Concerning Cooking, World Saving and Friendship
by fowl68
Summary: They were friends before they saved the world and she hated him before they were friends. Eventual Shelos
1. Barely Even Friends Until Somebody Bends

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Tales of Symphonia. It makes me a very sad panda to say so.

**Author's Note:** Thank God for Spring Break. Had to work yesterday for my dad and now I've got staple cuts all over my hands and my shoulder and head are aching because of an evil door, but I got some good sushi, watched the first three episodes of Highlander, half of The Producers and had some fun with the family.

Gonna go and watch Alice in Wonderland again, can't wait and I'm gonna make a stop at the bookstore because the Night Angel Trilogy, one that I recently finished, is absolutely worth buying.

-/-/-/

_Yes we are [friends] and I do like to pass the day with you in serious and inconsequential chatter. I wouldn't mind washing up beside you, dusting beside you, reading the back half of the paper while you read the front. We are friends and I would miss you, do miss you and think of you very often. I don't want to lose this happy space where I have found someone who is smart and easy and doesn't bother to check her diary when we arrange to meet. ~Jeanette Winterson,_ _**Written on the Body**_**, 1992**

**-/-/-/**

There was no open air market in Meltokio. Even in the slums, they conducted their business behind closed doors. It was something that annoyed Sheena about the city, the impersonality of it all. Outside of next-door-neighbors, people didn't stop to chat with others to hear the news or just to have a pleasant conversation.

"Can I help you, miss?" Sheena hands him her purchases—fruits mostly and some bread. She'd stop by the butchers later to get a few cuts of ham for sandwiches. "Dinner for two, eh, miss?"

She grinned at him. "Or for one hungry woman."

He gave her such a look that her grin faltered. Another annoying thing about Meltokio—women weren't real big eaters. That was one thing that Sheena really couldn't understand. If you were hungry, why not eat? The noblewomen certainly had the money for it and they didn't even have to cook their own food.

Sheena slapped her gald on the counter, taking the bags of groceries. She hated big cities, but Mizuho wasn't exactly accommodating to her right now. Annoyed as she was, she didn't notice someone else coming down the stairs.

"Whoa, hey." It was a male voice, one she didn't recognize. "You alright, hunny?"

Sheena's eyes snapped up to look at him. He wasn't too much taller than her, brilliantly red hair falling in waves to just past his shoulders. And his clothes were well-made and of material that would cost Sheena more than a year's wage.

"I'm not your hunny." She told him tartly, scooping up the fallen fruit, nose wrinkling at a few of the newly bruised ones.

"Not yet. Here, let me get that," He moved to take some of the fruit off her hands that she was beginning to struggle not to drop. A sharp glare stopped him. She had no patience for playboys.

"No, thanks. I got it."

One of his eyebrows arched. "What's got you all snarly?"

"Sexist morons." Dropping the fruit back in its respective bags, she said, "Thanks for the offer for help, but I've got to get home." It wasn't technically a home. It was a converted storage room in the Research Academy, but he didn't need to know that. She wasn't even in the mood to drop by the butcher's.

"Well, hey, let me walk you there."

"Thanks, but no thanks."

"Can I get your name then?" He called after her.

Sheena didn't reply.

-/-/-/

"Hey, you're that girl that hates sexist morons."

Sheena let out a slow breath. She'd thought that going to walk around and see the 'famed' Coliseum would help relieve some of the boredom of the Research Academy, but apparently not. She looked over her shoulder to see the redhead sitting on a bench, arms over the back.

"And you're the guy who doesn't know how to take a hint."

He smiled wide, teeth very white. "Okay, these names we've got for each other are getting entirely too wordy. I'm Zelos, Zelos Wilder. And you are…?"

"Sheena Fujibayashi."

He blinked. "Mouthful of a last name there, Sheena."

"Not my problem."

"Heh, I suppose not. What're you doing around these parts?"

"Walking. Last I checked, it wasn't against the law."

"You are a snarly one in general, aren't you?" Zelos stood in what would have been a liquid graceful way had Sheena not grown up around ninjas. "If you've got some time on your hands, why not come with me to watch the next match? Front row seats."

"…Nice an offer as that is," Her grandfather hadn't taught her to be rude, after all. "I'd rather not."

"I know my beauty is daunting, but don't be afraid."

Sheena snorted in laughter. She couldn't help it. "Right. More like the lack of brains is the daunting part."

"Ouch." He said mildly. "Have I done something to offend you, hunny?"

"Not really up until the hunny part. I'm not anything to you other than, at best, a vague acquaintance and barely that."

"Yes ma'am. Anything else or shall we go sit?"

"Not going with you, Wilder."

"One day." Zelos promised.

-/-/-/

"Remind me never make this a day job." Sheena remarked to one of the researchers that she'd made friends with, Katherine, as she tugged at the skirt of the dress. Not even a kimono. A dress.

Katherine shook her head, failing to hide the smile. Sheena was a breath of fresh air around the Research Academy. She was fiery and opinionated and, according to many of the guys, drop dead beautiful. Not that Sheena saw it that way from their conversations.

Sheena poked at her hair, which hung loose around her face. "Kathy, seriously, you are magical to get this mess to stay down."

"It's called a brush and some patience, dear."

"Martel knows I don't have that. The patience, I mean." Sheena always just fought with her hair every morning to get the tangles out and pulled it up into its messy ponytail with a ribbon.

"But you get to go to the dinner party. I hear the Chosen's going to be there."

"I don't see why everyone's obsessed with him." Sheena told her. "I can get that he's important to the church, but beyond that…"

"He's handsome, Sheena!" Sheena decided not to argue, mostly because she knew there was little point. No one would even tell her the Chosen's name because they were so in love with him. "And you have to finish getting dressed."

Sheena wished Katherine hadn't reminded her. She glared at the torture devices disguised as footwear in the corner. "I hate heels."

"Beauty is pain."

"You've no idea how much I hate that saying."

-/-/-/

Feeling entirely out of place, Sheena leaned back against the wall by the punch table, though she was only drinking water. Martel knew what those nobles put in their punch.

"Excuse me, do I know you?"

Dear Goddess, she was beginning to recognize that voice. "What are you doing here, Wilder?"

Zelos blinked in surprise. "Sheena?" It was the first time he'd said her name and he thought the occasion merited it because he hadn't recognized her at first and he prided himself in the ability to always remember a face.

He hadn't known her hair, black as the devil's own heart, had gentle waves in it or that it was nearly as long as his own hair. She was in a dress, which he had a feeling was a damn miracle for her. It was midnight blue and floor-length like all the gowns here. The straps were designed like spaghetti straps, but fell off the shoulder and it had a bit of a higher neckline than many of the women's dresses. And, Martel help him, she seemed to be wearing some traces of make-up!

"You got something to say, Wilder or are you just trying to catch flies?" She snapped, uncomfortable with the way he was staring at her.

"Sorry, Sheena, but that's the first time I've ever seen you look like a lady." Zelos winced at his own wording. "That didn't come out right."

Sheena waved him off. "I know what you meant. You never answered my question."

"As to why I'm here? Maybe it was just to see you looking so lovely." He replied to her look with a brief grin. "Or I'm forced to be here."

"I would think that you would thrive under these conditions."

"Purely out of necessity, darling."

Sheena didn't even get a chance to correct him on the nickname because a woman whose dress Sheena could only politely describe as slightly over-revealing. The neckline of the crimson dress dipped lower than was generally accepted even as borderline modest. The woman would have been pretty without the several layers of make-up caked on her face.

"Zelos, dear, it's wonderful to see you here. It shouldn't surprise me really. The Chosen must attend these important events."

Zelos suppressed a flinch at the look on Sheena's face. "Hey, hunny." He might be able to remember faces, but he had no memory for names. At least not the names of the cookie cutter noblewomen.

"Dance with me, won't you, Master Zelos?"

"I'm deeply grieved to have to say this, but I am having a very stimulating conversation with Miss Fujijbayashi right now. Perhaps when we're finished."

"Oh, so that's _her_ name. Master Zelos, you are aware that she has no ranking in society?"

Sheena's temper began to strain the leash. "Actually, I'm the ambassador from Mizuho."

The woman's painted lips curved into a mocking smile. "Oh, you're the ambassador from those barbarians? How…quaint."

"We are _not_ barbarians!" Zelos jumped a little, startled at the true anger and indignation seeping into her voice. On the two occasions when they'd last met, she'd been annoyed with him, but there hadn't been those flames in her eyes. "Just because we can eat what's put in front of us and have the manners not to mention what we think of other people if we don't like them and because we actually _talk_ to other people in the street doesn't make us barbarians."

"Perhaps you should learn not to speak in front of your betters."

"Or maybe you should learn that just because you can afford a dress that makes you look like a prostitute doesn't make you better than one or better than anyone else for that matter."

Zelos whistled low as the woman stormed away. "I gotta hand it to you. That was absolutely amazing."

"What're you talking about?"

Zelos crossed his arms, leaning a hip against the wall. "Darling, this might come as a surprise to you, but not many people go off on somebody like that at a party like this. Which reminds me, why didn't you tell me you were the Mizuho ambassador?"

Sheena didn't bother to correct him. Darling was better than hunny she supposed. "Don't know. Why didn't you tell me you were the Chosen?"

Zelos winced a little. "Hoped you'd forgotten about that. And because I figured you already knew. Most people recognize me on sight."

"I'd say you're being egotistical, but from the talk at the Research Academy, that's true."

"Even the geeks talk about me. I must be truly amazing."

"Hardly. Just famous."

Zelos laughed and, daring, grabbed one of her hands. He was mildly surprised to feel calluses marring the otherwise soft skin. "Dance with me." He said, tugging gently. He would never force a woman to do something like that.

"Hell no, Zelos." Sheena said, jerking her hand back.

A delighted grin lit up his face like a candle behind a curtain. "You called me by my name."

"Don't let it go to your head."

"No, never."

-/-/-/

Sheena tilted her head back, letting the water wash the shampoo from her hair. There'd been a brief cold spell in the Meltokio region and she wasn't insane enough to wash her hair in that kind of weather. Hearing a soft click beneath the sound of the shower running, she stiffened, instinctively going for the small dagger she kept just outside of the shower. It wasn't as good as her cards, but it would do.

"Hello?" She called. It could just be Katherine, needing to borrow a ribbon. She was always losing her hair ties. A shadow moved subtly closer and Sheena tensed. The shadow was too tall and its shoulders too broad to be Katherine. She flung the dagger, simultaneously grabbing her towel and wrapping it around herself clumsily.

"Hey, easy on the knives!"

Sheena stepped out of the shower, yanking the dagger from where it was still quivering in the wood scant centimeters from Zelos' ear. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

Zelos smiled innocently and shrugged. "Got lost?"

His head was spinning not moments later, cheek stinging and burning. "You damn pervert!"

Zelos shook his head and Sheena noticed for the first time that his hair wasn't red. It was wheat brown and his shirt was high-necked so that the necklace that he usually wore with the Chosen's jewel on it was concealed. "This wasn't out of perverseness, I swear."

Sheena arched a disbelieving brow, adjusting the towel higher on her chest. "Oh really? So what was it?"

"Natural curiosity of course."

A second slap echoed through the small room. "Get the hell out of here! I'm serious!"

He rose up his hands in the universal 'I concede' gesture. "Alright, alright. I'll wait for you downstairs."

"What the hell are you talking about now?"

He blinked up at her. His eyes were the only things unchanged, brilliantly blue as the sun shining on ice. "Well I was under the impression that you were getting bored hanging around the Research Academy, so I figured I'd come and keep you company."

Sheena pinched the bridge of her nose. "We'll discuss this later. Get out of here."

"Yes'm."

-/-/-/

It didn't take her long to dress and clumsily dry her hair with the towel before pulling it up. As she came down the stairs, there was Zelos, waiting in the lobby and looking perfectly innocent. As if.

"Alright, tell me why you're here."

"Darling, I already told you." He said patiently.

"I meant the real reason."

Now he did look confused. "What are you—Are you suggesting that I was lying?"

"Are you telling me you weren't?"

"Why would I? Or is it simply that difficult to believe that I just want the pleasure of your company?"

"Why not get one of your 'hunnies'? Surely they provide more glamorous company that someone from a backwater town like myself." Sheena was never in the best of moods after someone had peeked into her shower.

"Who better than an ambassador? And you're a better conversationalist."

"Oh, I've no doubt about that considering I've a lot more than just air in my head."

Zelos made sudden gesture. "See! That, right there! Who needs an adoring noblewoman when I've got a ninja with blind hatred? If you keep this up, I might actually have to start having conversations with girls who actually like me." He smiled. It had been a long time since he'd had this much fun. "Now, do you want to stay here bored all day or would you rather tour the city with the wonderful me for a guide?"

"Such a tempting opportunity to say no…" Sheena grinned at the expression on his face. "I'm kidding. So, where to, Mr. Tour Guide?"

-/-/

"So what's with the incognito look?" Sheena asked, nodding towards his brown hair and clothes of rougher fabrics. "Sleep with the wrong girl and now her husband's after you?"

Zelos gave her a sour look. "You have such high opinions of me, don't you? As a matter of fact, no, I didn't. I just prefer not to be ogled everywhere I go, so I dyed my hair."

"That's something that raises an interesting question. Is red your natural hair color?"

He grinned roguishly at her. "I could show you proof if you want."

She held up a hand. "I'll pass. How'd you find this place?" Sheena took a sip of her coffee. It was something she'd discovered only when she'd come here, to Meltokio, and she'd fallen in love with it. In Mizuho, they were more tea people.

"Sebastian is a wonderful cook and a good guy, but he really can't make good coffee to save his life." At her confused look, he added, "Sebastian's my butler. He's basically raised me since I was like nine."

She smiled into her mug. "He has to have some kind of patience to have dealt with you for the past…how old are you anyways?"

"I'm turning sixteen soon."

"Huh. I just turned fifteen three months ago."

"So clearly age difference won't be a problem for us." At her look, he laughed. "I kid,seriously, I'm kidding. But why did your village let a fifteen year old become their ambassador?"

Sheena swirled her coffee around, not meeting his eyes. "There were…other factors that outweighed my age. And they figured that I could improve my summoning abilities while I'm here."

Zelos leaned his forearms on the table. "You're a summoner? Seriously? I thought there weren't any left and that was why the guys at the Elemental Research Academy were trying to make their own Summon Spirits."

"Well, I'm one of the last ones." She said shortly. "…I wonder how old you have to be to work here."

Zelos looked over at her, momentarily losing the train of conversation. How did women make these mental jumps? _Why _did they make them? "Pardon?"

"To work here. For a job. There's a sign on the front window that says NOW HIRING. I'm wondering what the age requirements are."

Zelos held up a finger, universal sign language for 'wait', before striding up to the front desk. "'Scuse me, but I was wondering if I could get some details about the job opening?"

The clerk scribbled it all down on a sheet of paper and Zelos returned, sliding the paper to Sheena. "Out of curiosity, why do you want the job? You don't have to pay for board at the Research Academy, do you?"

"No, but it will give me something to do with my days. Until they manage to succeed to create a Summon Spirit, there's not much use they have for me."

Zelos leaned his cheek into his palm. "There are the Summon Spirits in the temples, aren't there? Like Shadow and Volt and them?" He frowned when he saw her go pale beneath her light brown skin. "Is something wrong, hunny?"

"N-no. 'Course not."

His frown deepened. "There is very clearly something wrong if you haven't slapped me for the 'hunny' comment. What is it?"

She stood, chair scraping the tile with a short screech. "It's nothing. Honestly. Thanks for the coffee, but I'm gonna be heading back."

Sheena didn't give him a chance to reply, disappearing out the door.

-/-/-/

"It's rare to see you here, Chosen." The princess said, standing in the doorway of the royal library.

"Good evening, Your Highness. I had to do some rather urgent research."

"I can see that." She kneeled beside him, his piles of books dubbed useless beginning to resemble much more like a fortress. "What is it that you're researching?"

"The Summon Spirits. Specifically Volt or Shadow."

"Well you're looking in the entirely wrong section, Chosen." Contrary to popular belief, the princess was fairly intelligent. She wasn't a genius, but neither was she a complete fool. Getting to her feet, she nodded towards the opposite wall. "All the information on Summon Spirits is there."

Zelos sent her a grateful smile. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy reading—he did to some extent—but he was on a short timeframe and he needed the information. "You're an angel, Your Highness. Honestly, you've got wings!"

She laughed and bid him good night, quietly shutting the doors to the library behind him.

Zelos searched for the most recent records of the two Summon Spirits, one within the past fifteen years. The only real news on either of them was that the researchers at the Research Academy were developing a candle that could pierce even the darkness of Shadow's Temple and that there had been an incident regarding Volt and Mizuho several years back, resulting in the loss of a third of Mizuho's population.

The details were hardly there; it was a clinical report. Very cold and stating only statistics, but it was enough for him to piece together what had happened.

-/-/-/

Sheena pulled her blankets over her head. It couldn't be morning already, could it? Why else would anyone be tapping at her door so early? But the sound was subtly different. There was no wooden depth to the knocking. Rather, there was a clear, higher pitch to the tapping and there was only one other place where someone would be knocking.

Sheena peeked out from underneath her blanket. The only thing she could make out was a mane of red. Sighing, she got up to unlock the window. She was so not in the mood for this. "What is it _now_, Wilder?"

"I just wanted an answer to my question."

Sheena stiffened, crossing her arms in an attempt to hide it. "Which one?"

"One I haven't asked you yet and here it is. Did you have anything to do with what happened in Mizuho six years ago? When there was some situation with Volt and Mizuho lost a lot of people?"

"That's two questions." Her mouth said automatically in an attempt to divert the conversation. Her body language answered the question for him, however. She suddenly seemed to shrink, her shoulders hunching and she refused to meet his eyes. "I don't think you'll believe me if I say no."

"Just tell me the truth, Sheena. That's all I'm asking for."

Her hands clenched at the sleeves of her nightshirt. "Yes, I had something to do with it! It was all my fault because I'm not a particularly skilled summoner. Are you happy? Does that answer your question?" She closed the window on him and he jerked his hands back from the sill to avoid getting his fingers crushed, but it left him off balance and he found his back scraping against tree branches before the breath was knocked out of him when he hit the concrete.

He swore under his breath as he stood, back muscles seizing in protest. This was not the ending he'd hoped for today.

-/-/

It was nearly two months before he got to speak to her again and it wasn't for lack of trying. She lived up to her ninja name by disappearing down side alleys and was incredibly skillful at avoiding people. The New Year had come and gone by that time and he had barely glimpsed her in the crowds at parties and celebrations that she, like him, only attended out of necessity.

It was a week into the new year that he was finally able to catch her wrist and talk to her. "You can't avoid me forever."

Her hazel eyes were pure defiance. Even if they hadn't met in the way they had, he would have been able to pick her out of any sea of women. There was something different, some fire in her that wasn't in many other people. "You can't come after me forever, Chosen."

He flinched visibly. She'd never called him that, not once, and certainly not with the venom currently dripping from her words. "Yes, yes I can. And I'm willing to."

"And why is that?"

How would you put something like that into words? But his mouth, not communicating quite properly with his brain, as usual, said, "There aren't many of my hunnies that are just so charming. And have such an amazing body too!"

Nails dig into his hand hard enough that his grip loosens involuntarily and she uses the opportunity to break free. "Don't start."

"At least tell me which part you're angry about." He said, moving so that he was blocking the only way out of the room.

"You shouldn't have pried into my business like that! That was private information—"

"Clearly it wasn't if I found it." He interrupted. The fact that he'd needed to find the information in the royal library was beside the point. "And I wouldn't have gone looking for it if you hadn't told me it was nothing when it obviously was. If you'd told me to stay out of it, I would've." Because he doesn't want to cross too far over the line with this girl. She's different.

-/-/-/-/

Her forgiving him is a slow process, one that takes nearly a year, but he'll take it because she's still willing to speak to him and he is the one person she moves towards automatically during those dreadfully boring dinner parties. He sometimes puts his foot in his mouth, but she's learning that that's just his natural maleness and she forgives it after a slap or half-serious push.

A month or so into spring, he gets them both lost in the winding royal gardens. Her look is priceless and he wouldn't have done the day any other way even if, by the time they got out, it was nearly dawn.

During the summer, they both retreat into his mansion because the air conditioning in the Research Academy is out and Sheena tells him that the scientists seem to be on the verge of a breakthrough at last and Meltokio's summers are far too hot to be wandering outside because it's humid and the air heavy. They make ice cream sundaes and watch old movies like the Ghost of the Operette and The Half-Elven Barber of Ellen Street.

Zelos is woken early in the morning by Sheena shaking his shoulder (Sebastian had long ago become accustomed to the girl and thought that she was very good for Master Zelos). His blue eyes are bleary as they look up at her and it's difficult to see her on account of her dark hair and she's wearing a light jacket against the early morning cold of autumn and she looks like a pale ghost in the darkness.

"Whazzgoin' on?" He asks, reaching to turn on the bedside lamp. Something furry bounces on his chest and he jumps. "What the hell—?"

She's laughing and when he finally succeeds in turning on the lamp, the grin hasn't vanished from her lips. The furry thing—in the light, it looked much closer to a small fox—was seated comfortably on his chest. "Zelos, meet Corrine."

Corrine became a regular on their ventures through the city and sometimes out of it. It wasn't difficult to sneak out, not when one was a ninja and the other was, in Sheena's terms, a useless Chosen, but he could jump fairly high, so he wasn't that bad.

Sheena invited him to a snowball war a week before Celsius Day that was going on in the lower quarters of the city, one in which even the geeks and slumchildren were joining in. The blood drained from his face, though he pasted a smile on his face and shook his head, saying that he didn't really like the cold.

The night after the snowball war, Sheena steps through the front door, shaking snow flurries from her hair and smiles at him. "Please, tell me you have hot chocolate."

"For my favorite darling, always." It's the one word she allows, darling, because she knows it could be so much worse and he never calls anyone else that anyway.

Sebastian brings her a towel and a warm blanket and she sits on a stool, leaning her arms on the island in the kitchen. Zelos can't make anything much more complicated than sandwiches and his coffee was barely drinkable but he could make excellent hot chocolate. Sheena had recently taught him to make steak and fried potatoes. And apparently Zelos had some spark of culinary genius, because he'd added some incredible spices and they tasted quite good.

"I'm so glad you've soldiered home from the hard war." Zelos says, sliding the mug across to her. "How was earning your badge of valor?"

"It was a hard battle, but we won in the end." The hazel eyes regard him over the rim of the mug. "Zelos…why don't you like snow?"

He freezes in his tracks, a lance going through his heart. But he manages to look at her like there was no lance. "I don't like the cold in general."

"Y'know, if you don't want to tell me, that's fine. But tell me you don't want to. Don't just lie."

Zelos ran a hand through his hair, biting his lip. "…I do want to tell you." He couldn't keep anything from her if he tried, not for long anyway.

"Need I remind you that you owe me?" Zelos bit his lip a little harder at that. It hadn't been a card that Sheena had really wanted to pull out, but she felt that there wouldn't really be a better time for this.

"…You have to _promise_ not to interrupt." Because he knew that if she did, he wouldn't be able to keep going.

"Cross my heart." Sheena said, pulling the blanket closer around her.

The story came slow and halting at first, as though he didn't wish to say it, but once he got going, it spilled from his mouth in a rush. Sheena had to work very hard to force herself not to interrupt because her temper nearly wanted to snap because what kind of mother was like that to her son and there was also the sadness tugging at her because no kid should have to go through that.

When he was finally done, he looked smaller than she'd ever seen him and it was weird. Zelos would never be a man of incredible height, but he had always been, at most, a half foot taller than her. But he seemed little more than a child right now, a child looking at her like he was afraid to be hit, like he was so accustomed to being hit for so many things, that he didn't know the reason why he was being hit now.

Sheena sighs, and sets down her empty mug, moving around the island to hug him. It was awkward—Touching people was never a big part of Mizuho culture and Zelos had long ago learned to keep his hands to himself where Sheena was concerned—and Zelos had always been a little bony and they don't quite fit right with each other, but it's a little easier than Sheena thought it would be to wrap her arms around him. Zelos doesn't hug back right away; he's still not quite believing that Sheena was willingly hugging him and he's grateful that he was talking for the past half hour because it seems like his mouth was just too tired to say anymore.

Sheena's warm and cold at the same time, something that Zelos doesn't quite feel like figuring out. Her skin is warm from hot chocolate and a blanket and her natural body heat, though her clothes are still chilled from the snow. "Thanks." She says quietly. "For telling me that, I mean."

And that's when he knows she forgives him.

-/-/-/

Sheena isn't in town as often anymore. Mizuho calls her back for regular reports on her progress with Corrine. One time, around the next Celsius Day, Sheena invites him to come. "I'm staying there until the New Year." She says.

He shakes his head. "I don't think they'll much appreciate the Chosen knowing where they are."

"They won't mind you going there, Zelos." She uses his name on purpose because the Chosen and Zelos are two different people with the same face. "And it doesn't snow very much in Mizuho."

Zelos glances over at her. She's leaning against the kitchen counter, a bowl of cereal in her hands. "Well, what is Celsius Day without my darling?" Sheena rolled her eyes. "You make a seductive argument, madam. I'll go."

It's the best Celsius Day he's had so far in his nearly eighteen years of life. Sheena is subtly different around the two brothers, Kuchinawa and Orochi, but that's to be expected. She's known there guys since childhood, though he has a feeling it would have been birth if she had actually been born to the village. It's a topic she brings up every now and again, usually on the summer nights when they could hear the cicadas outside and they just finished one of their old movies; if her birth parents were heroic people or were they simple people. One night after they'd seen a film involving a Summon Spirit's moving castle in the sky, she'd fantasized that perhaps her parents had been great summoners and that, maybe when they died, that they'd become minor summons too.

Sheena and her 'brothers' were chaotic around each other. Even Orochi, who Zelos pegged for the calmest one, seemed to loosen up a little more with Sheena. Though their conversations sometimes confused him because Sheena would be arguing with Kuchinawa and defending him in the next breath. And when they spar…

Zelos had known that Sheena could fight, had seen her train and had seen the muscles on her arms, but Sheena and Kuchinawa are little more than swift blurs of color. Zelos has been in his fair share of battles and he's sparred against Sheena more than a few times, but those two going at it were simply incredible.

Sheena tolerated his arm slung around her shoulder now and sometimes, not very often, her arm will slip around his waist. They're walking around not far from the village and Sheena tells him, "Kuchinawa is apparently very mistrusting of you."

"Goddess, what'd he say?"

"He took me out by the well and made sure I knew how to punch properly. 'Do that if that idiot Chosen ever sees you in the shower again', he said. And," She added as an afterthought, "That's exactly what I'll do if you even _think_ about doing that again."

Zelos chuckled. "I think I learned my lesson. A knife getting hurled at you sends a pretty obvious message."

"Just making sure. You can be pretty oblivious sometimes."

"Aww…that hurts, darlin'."

"You'll live."

-/-/-/

"Apparently there's another world."

Zelos' eyes are snapping open and he looks over at Sheena. She's curled up in her favorite dark blue blanket in the armchair. Corrine is sleeping in her lap, her hands absentmindedly petting his fur. "Because that's not a weird conversation opener."

"That's beside the point, Zelos." But there's none of her usual bite to the words.

Sensing that the conversation was much more serious, he turns over on his stomach and watches her intently. "Alright, I'm listening. Another world?"

"Mmhmm. It's called Sylvarant."

Zelos has heard of Sylvarant, mostly from the old legends and the other Summon Spirits. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Their Chosen…I'm supposed to assassinate them."

"What?" Zelos doesn't think they could have picked a worse person for the job. Not that Sheena isn't physically capable; she was one of Mizuho's best warriors, but she was too kind-hearted to assassinate someone. "Why?"

"For the good of Tethe'alla apparently."

Zelos frowned. There had been plenty of cases in history where terrible things were excused because they were for 'the greater good'. "How do they expect you to go to another world?"

"The Renegades are supposed to escort me there tomorrow."

Zelos sat up straight. "Tomorrow?"

"Mmhmm. And I'd invite you along, but I don't think that you could come."

"Did they mention how long you're supposed to stay there?"

"Until I complete the mission."

Zelos' heart sank. With Sheena's kind-heartedness, she would most likely never complete the mission and that meant she'd never come home again and Zelos wasn't sure how he lived before he met her. But he pastes a smile on his lips. "I'm sure you'll be fine. You'll have Corrine after all."

Sheena smiles at him and it's the last time he sees her smile for many months.


	2. New Friends and Betrayal

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Tales of Symphonia. It makes me a very sad panda to say so.

**Author's Note:** It feels so good to write Kratos again. I love everybody in this game (save for Colette and Marta) but Kratos is the top of my list. Sorry to do the whole Tower of Salvation scene, but it's one of my favorites and I couldn't resist.

School is starting up once again (grargh) and that means more chemistry and geometry, two of my most hated subjects within an eight hour period. Just watched Chicago and I've got the Cell Block Tango and Razzle Dazzle going through my head.

-~-~-~-~

_To betray, one must first belong.—Harold Philby_

-~-~-~-

Sylvarant was oddly welcoming to Sheena. The air was different, fresher somehow, like the grass after it rained. The colors here were a little more subdued, the shapes slightly softer-shaped, but Sheena found that she preferred that. The towns were smaller, but there were more of them and the people here were both friendlier, yet more suspicious.

The town of Luin was particularly welcoming and Sheena loved the way that the smell of clean, pure water was constant, that the ground was gently moist, the plants rich and the people would greet each other and invite others in for lunch. There was still no open-air market, but Sheena understood it in Luin, where rain was constant.

The innkeeper didn't question her subtle accent, didn't remark on her odd clothes or how she seemed to know so very little about Sylvarant in general. After all, none of them even fathomed of another world, of cultures entirely different, yet the same as theirs.

But all good things must come to an end.

Flames had painted the sky in colors that reminded Sheena of the shop's candied apples and their orange peels. The smoke is the color of the storm clouds that would come at least twice a week, but there is no rain to douse the fires and no thunder to drown out the screams and the rhythmtic thudding of booted feet.

She fights, she honestly does, but for every Desian that she kills, there is another two to take his place. One of them catches her—once, twice! with a spear in her side before she slams her feet into his ribs, feels the cracking of ribs before using his shoulders as braces before flipping over him and sweeping their feet, pinning him into the dirt with his spear.

But now the blood is beginning to soak through her shirt and, dully, her mind thinks that those stains are going to take forever to get out if she didn't get them in cold water now, and the blood loss is making her dizzy.

She collapses against the fountain—water, please to wet her too dry throat!—but she cannot get to her feet now, exhausted as she is. As the Desians drag everyone away, they leave her for she looks like a corpse dew-in-moonlight pale skin and the bruised look in her eyes and the steadily spreading stain that was the color of ripe strawberries in their boxes on market day.

Sheena does not know how long she stayed their, feeling her life drain from her as sand drains from a child's cupped hands. But then there are the Chosen and her group, blurred slightly in her vision, but she would know this group anywhere.

Sylvarant's Chosen is nothing like Zelos. She is melted butter on pancakes blonde and she is softly spoken. The only thing even remotely similar are their eyes; both are blue, but where Zelos' are ice on a bright winter morning, this Chosen's are that of the summer sky just before noon. "Professor, please, won't you heal her?"

The silver-haired woman looks at her and her eyes are like Zelos', ice. "I want to know what happened here first. This could simply be a trap to catch us off guard."

Sheena scoffs a laugh. As though she could even fight right now, if she had thought to do that. "As devious as you look. This city is now in ruin. The Desians…invaded."

Then there's the boy in red, the red of cherries that are nearly ripe. His two swords are at his waist and his wide brown eyes are still trying to take it all in. Sheena wants to hate how they look at her, with pity in their eyes, but she is too tired to do so. "What?"  
"There is a human ranch, a little to the north-east of here?" It hurts to talk, but then, it hurts to so much as breathe. "This city's people had been sheltering people who'd escaped from the ranch. The Desians found out…and the entire population was taken to the ranch and the city destroyed."

"How were you injured?" The girl Chosen's voice is quiet and still has a tone as though she is accustomed to speaking optimistically.

"It was clumsiness on my part." Not quite a lie. Had she paid better attention, she wouldn't have gotten stabbed by the man in the first place.

A monster, grotesque and misshapen, is lumbering forward after a priest. Sheena lurches to her feet with a sudden burst of adrenalin, her side screaming, and tries not to sway on her feet. "Stay back!" She commands it.

The monster sweeps her aside with an oversized claw as though she is nothing, the impact jarring and adding more pain.

Then the girl Chosen is in the air—she's on wings! Translucent and pale a pink as the noblewomans' rouge in Meltokio—but she is swept aside as well. The small boy—brother to the healer—calls her name "Colette, are you alright?" as the monster lumbers away into the ruins of the city.

"She has lost a lot of blood." It is the other swordsman, the one with eyes like garnet half hidden by auburn hair. His voice is calming and rather subdued, slightly rough from where the lingering smoke must have gotten into his throat.

The healer does her work reluctantly, remarking that the others are all far too soft-hearted. The woman is good at her job, though, for Sheena feels the wounds begin to knit, sealing the skin over with no scars. The soreness in her muscles does not leave and Sheena is sure that there are a few bruises that were missed, but she thinks that is a small price to pay.

Sheena levers herself to her feet, her legs still slightly weak, but it was temporary. "Why did you save me?"

The dual swordsman looks at her with sadness till lingering in the backs of his eyes. "Most likely for the same reason you saved that priest."

They allow her to join them to free the population of Luin from the ranch, but she knows that they refuse to trust her. Of course, that might also be because of her comment on how they had best take care that they not lose their heads while they slept.

* * *

Their trusting of her is a slow process, though it is sped up considerably by the saving of Luin's people. They don't let her take the night watch for a week at least. Lloyd, as Sheena learns that the red swordsman is called, and Genis are the first to make really friendly approaches.

"I don't think we ever thanked you." Lloyd says one night while they are collecting firewood.

Sheena glances over at him. "For what?"

"For saving us back in that ranch." Lloyd shifts a little uncomfortably and Sheena can tell that the knowledge of his mother's fate still preyed heavily on his mind. "With that monster or whatever it was."

"It wasn't a monster." Sheena tells him, readjusting her small pile. It had rained recently and it was difficult to find dry wood. "It's a guardian, one of twelve that my grandfather gave me."

"Seriously? That's pretty cool that you can bring it out of nowhere. Or is it a summoning too?" Ever since the group had found out that she was a summoner, Lloyd had seemed the most outwardly interested, constantly asking questions.

"It's a summoning, just not one that I had to make a pact for. I don't think you even need summoning abilities to do it, because I've seen my grandfather do it." She hesitated before adding, "The guardians made a pact with my village Chief centuries ago to use their strength to protect my village. I'd tell you more, but I really don't know the story all that well."

Genis—the little genius brother—smiled as he took some of the wood from them and started the fire. "Didn't pay much attention in history, did you?"

Sheena laughed. "Nope. Not at all."

"Then that makes two of us." Lloyd said.

* * *

They're still soaked from fighting Undine and shivering from the cool breezes, though Genis is trying his hardest to not set them on fire as he tries to dry their clothes with a spell. Sheena still can't believe that she actually succeeded in forming a pact when she couldn't even make one in her own world.

"Hey, Kratos." The swordsman looks at her sideways. She's still not sure whether he trusts her yet, if he trusted anyone really. "Thanks for the advice at the temple. I really appreciate it."

"You needed the help and we needed the Summon Spirit." He says in that not unkind, but not exactly gentle voice of his. "It was good for everyone."

"Whatever the reason, thanks."

* * *

"You're wasting your time. Not only did she lose her memory, but she has lost the soul to listen to your words." None of them want to recognize the owner of that calm voice, but they all look up to the platform anyway. Kratos is standing there, looking as unconsciously confident as always. "Now Colette is merely a puppet standing before death's door."

No one quite understood, or perhaps, they did not wish to understand, what was happening. Colette was simply floating there, eyes dead to the world and no reaction came from her no matter how much Lloyd begged or pleaded. "The Chosen desired the regeneration of the world and chose this path herself." Kratos continued. "It is what you wanted as well. We will take the Chosen as the new body for Martel."

"Kratos…answer me!" Lloyd was working hard against the instinct to draw his blades, but this was Kratos. He shouldn't have to draw his swords against him. "What are you talking about? Who are you?!"

The air around Kratos began to glow with a pale light. "I am of Cruxis, the organization that guides this world." And there, springing from his back, were pale pale blue wings, like the sky of a winter morning. "I am one of the Four Seraphim sent forth to keep close watch over the Chosen."

"You deceived us!" Sheena says in disbelief. It hurts more than it should to know that he had. Was it perhaps because Kratos had always been the silently supportive one or maybe it was because none of them could possibly have seen a mercenary betraying their employer.

"Deceived? If the Chosen merges with Martel, she will awaken and the world will be saved. Is that not what you wanted?"

Damn him…damn him for being able to be so calm about this. Even as they fought, steel clanging on steel and flashes of kicks and jabs meeting on hips and torsos, there was little changed in his expression.

But even as Lloyd was prepared to strike the final blow against their traitor, in another burst of pale light, another angel appeared. The angel was male, but his features were nearly feminine, except for that line of the jaw that made it masculine. The pale blonde hair, long enough to be a woman's certainly added to the feminine illusion.

"I suppose even you could not bring yourself to fight against such an opponent." The angel's voice was smooth and low.

"Lord Yggdrasill." Kratos greeted, head bowed.

"Are you Lloyd?" Yggrasill asked, tilting his head.

"Give me your name and I'll give you mine!" Sheena could see how a little part of Lloyd was still trembling a little from the betrayal. It wasn't physical, or at least it didn't present itself that way. Lloyd's hands on his swords were steady, something that wasn't unsurprising giving how he was a craftsman as well as a warrior.

"I shall tell you my name, wretched human. I am Yggdrasill, leader of Cruxis…and the Desians."

As they fought Yggdrasill, even with their skill and teamwork, Sheena doubted they could have defeated him even if they weren't already tired from fighting Kratos. They lay or kneeled on the ground, battered and bruised with exhaustion and pain dragging at their limbs.

"Renegades…" Yggdrasill breathed as the tower was stormed with the soldiers.

Even as Yggdrasill blasted them away with light magic, they managed to drag Colette and the others away from that altar and into the teleporter.

Kratos lingered in that room, even after everyone had gone and he was left staring at a broken column. _Traitor…you deceived us…_the words echoed in his mind, bounced off of the floor and columns until it had its own rhythm in his head.

"Saved by Renegades…don't die, Lloyd."

* * *

"You all are finally awake." A cultured voice said.

They looked across the room to them man who'd spoken. The man's cobalt hair hid half of his face, most of it tied back in a tail. His black cape draped nearly to the ground and he was watching them intently.

"You guys are the Renegades?"

"Yes. We're an underground resistance that fights the Desians, or rather Cruxis. Cruxis controls the Church of Martel and operates the Desians from behind the curtain. Those who you have called themselves angel are nothing more than half-elves, evolved using an advanced exsphere known as the Cruxi Crystal. They are no gods, nor anything else even remotely relating to one. The Church and the Chosen know nothing about that."

Raine spoke up from the back. "Do they wish to revive the goddess Martel? They control marriages and send oracles to create Chosens who will then become the vessel."

"Very good. There is another world beyond Sylvarant that is competing for the same mana."

"And that's Tethe'alla." Lloyd assumed.

The man nodded. "The one who created this twisted form of the worlds was Yggdrasill."

"That's ridiculous!" Genis protested immediately. "No one can create a world!"

"If this is what you choose to believe, then this is where our conversation ends."

Lloyd stopped him before he walked from the room. "If Yggdrasill did create the other world, then what can you possibly hope to do against someone like that? And you've tried to kill Colette and me in the past. You're not exactly on our side either."

The slight smirk was clear in his voice, if not on the man's lips. "You're not nearly as stupid as you seem. Unfortunately the Chosen completed the angel transformation. She is now a lethal weapon who's only goal is self-defense. We're not nearly foolish enough to lay a hand on her. But we no longer need a Chosen. You, Lloyd Irving, are what we need!"

They bolted from the room, nearly lost in the maze that the base made.

"We need to save Colette." Lloyd said when they'd dodged into an empty room and locked it. "The problem is we don't know how."

"..Sheena, where did your Exsphere come from?" Raine asked.

The ninja frowned in confusion. "A little random, Raine, but I got it before I came to Sylvarant. It was attached at the Imperial Research Academy. The Renegades were the ones who brought the technology over. I'm not sure if Tethe'alla and the Renegades are on the same side, but the Renegades were the ones who originally came up with the plan to assassinate this world's Chosen."

"I vote that we go to Tethe'alla. They might be studying Exspheres there." Raine said.

"The last time I checked, they were studying Tethe'alla's Chosen's Cruxis Crystal at the Research Academy, so that sounds like a good plan to me." Sheena didn't let thoughts of how she had been a little homesick for the familiar accents and the smell of Sebastian making curry on some afternoons. She especially didn't allow the thoughts of how she'd missed Zelos while she was in Sylvarant, having missed his jokes and his familiar presences.

"Everyone good with that plan?" Lloyd double-checked, but something inside him told him that he would go without them if need be. Anything to get some sort of something in Colette's eyes again. Everyone nodded their assent. "Then we're going to Tethe'alla."


	3. Saying the Wrong Things and Meaning More

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Tales of Symphonia. It makes me a very sad panda to say so.

**Author's Note:** And Zelos is finally back in the picture! I still like Kratos better, but every story needs a charming playboy, I think.

I currently feel like killing my brother. He got C'est la Vie by B*Witched in my head, a song I haven't heard in ages and don't know all the words to. Grargh.

-/-/-/

_The friend who holds your hand and says the wrong thing is made of dearer stuff than the one who stays away. ~Barbara Kingsolver_

_-/-/_

Sheena couldn't quite believe it when they crossed to Tethe'alla, couldn't quite believe that that was Gaoracchia Forest below them or that there was Flanoir with its snow and ice. There was nothing like Flanoir in Sylvarant, but then, there was nothing like the Triet Desert in Tethe'alla.

Of course, as much as she'd missed Tethe'alla, she didn't want to kiss the ground and the ground was coming up a might fast. Sheena's sarcastic mind chimed in as the reason for this being 'you're going down too quick.'

The crash landing is…a little less than graceful, to put it gently and the mountain that they'd landed on was anything but gentle. Sheena gratefully accepted Genis' hand up. Her backside was going to be sore for days. "Looks like we're out of fuel and we've got no way to carry these. We'll have to leave them here."

Genis' eyes focused on something in the horizon. "That's the Tower of Salvation. But isn't this Tethe'alla? Why would it be here?"

Raine glanced over to them, dusting herself off and trying, and failing, to keep her hair out of her face. "Is your Holy Ground called Kharlan as well?"

"Yeah. That's where the Tower is. It's where the peace treaty was signed to end the Ancient War." Sheena hadn't paid a whole lot of attention in history, but after hearing the story enough times, you learned it regardless of whether you wanted to or not.

"But there can't be two of them." Genis said as they began down the narrow mountain trail.

Sheena slid down some loose pebbles that were still wet with dew, though it was late morning. "Is yours a fake? There are paintings in our museums depicting Mithos the Hero as he called the two ancient kings to forge that treaty."

"There are records of that in Sylvarant as well." Raine reported, using her staff as a walking stick. Her ankle had twisted oddly in the fall. It wasn't even sprained, just uncomfortable. "The instruments used to sign the treaty are at the Palmacosta Academy."

"So where are we headed?" Lloyd asked, refusing to not be near Colette, despite her taciturnity.

"The capital of Tethe'alla, Meltokio." Sheena replied. "It's about a half a day's walk from here. That's where the Research Academy is and you'll need the King's permission to go in." A half a day until she caught sight of the city that she'd grown to like, though she'd never love it nearly as much as Mizuho.

The sun was setting when Sheena held out her arms in a lazily grand gesture as they reached the city gates. "Ta-da! The Royal City of Meltokio."

"It's huge!" Genis exclaimed, tilting his head back to look up.

Sheena stopped in her tracks. "I'm sorry, but this is where we part ways. I have to report to my Chief on my failure to kill the Chosen. But here, take this letter and deliver it to the King. Say it's from Sheena of Mizuho and he'll grant you an audience right away."

It was harder than she made it look to walk away. Not just because she was walking away from her friends, friends who had no idea how to get around Tethe'alla, but also because she would have to wait longer to see that insufferable, arrogant, loveable Chosen.

-/-/

The road to Mizuho was a long one, made longer by the fact that Sheena had become so used to traveling with people, with laughter and jokes and conversation. She still could not quite believe that she was back, that this was the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge that she was walking on.

"…Eena. Sheena."

The ninja, finally registering the voice, looked up at Orochi, smiling even though his being here at the gates of the village to see her could not be good news. She had missed him as well.

"The Chief is waiting for you." He told her.

"Thanks, Orochi, but I'll see him myself."

As she was almost to the small stream that ran through town, Orochi called, "Sheena! Good luck."

-/-/

"_You're_ Tethe'alla's Chosen?" The white-haired kid looked incredulous and Zelos couldn't really blame him for it.

But the phrase seemed off. "What do you mean 'Tethe'alla's'?"

"Are you from Sylvarant?" The Pope asked and Zelos' heart jumped.

If they were here, where was Sheena? It didn't surprise him that they were still alive. Sheena had never had the heart to be a killer, but that she wouldn't be here, whether she was friends with the Sylvaranti or not, was surprising. Was she even still alive?

The boy all in red confirmed it. And when asked, he replied that his name was Lloyd. "We have a letter for the King. It's from Sheena of Mizuho."

Another jump from his heart. She was alive then, but if so, where was she? Possibly Mizuho, but that didn't soothe his worries. She had failed in her mission and Zelos didn't know what the price of that was. He wanted to doubt that it was death, but the laws of Mizuho were alien to him and their honor system was entirely different.

The King asked the Sylvaranti to wait in the other room while he read aloud the letter. Zelos let his eyes wander the King's chambers, not really taking it in. It spoke of an illness in the Chosen of Sylvarant—the blonde girl that Sheena called Colette—and was a plea for permission to go to the Imperial Research Academy for study on her Exsphere.

But Zelos had seen the translucently pink wings himself. She hadn't completed the regeneration ritual, but she hadn't failed entirely either. It must have been wreaking havoc with her Cruxis Crystal and his only thought, beyond Sheena's fate, was that he would do anything so that that wouldn't happen to him.

"We can't allow them to stay, Your Majesty." The Pope begins. "They will attempt to take Tethe'alla from the inside. We will lose our age of prosperity and peace."

Zelos didn't speak up. He had ventured outside the city more often recently—for whatever reason, Meltokio had been making him unbearably claustrophobic ever since Sheena left—and had had brushes with monsters, something previously unheard of outside of Gaoracchia Forest. He had a few still-healing cuts to prove it.

He watched as they attacked Colette and were brushed aside like flies. It didn't surprise him that the empty shell left for Martel had strong instincts for self-preservation.

"They have Exspheres. Of course they're powerful." Zelos says.

The only woman among the Sylvaranti—silver-haired with sharp, glacial eyes—bargained for a deal. "Colette lost her soul because she was being reborn as an angel to save Sylvarant. But so long as she doesn't become an angel, Sylvarant won't be saved."

Zelos was the first to get it. "You're saying that if we save her, we save Tethe'alla. That would mean abandoning Sylvarant."

"I don't care."

The shock emanating from the boy who, for all Zelos knew, could be her son or her little brother and Lloyd was palpable in the air. "Professor!"

"Our priority right now is to save Colette."

Lloyd looked torn for a half a moment before his eyes landed on Colette. "She's right. We'll make a deal."

"If these guys don't go back to Sylvarant," Zelos began, "Then it doesn't matter whether they're dead or alive. I'll go and keep tabs on them." Because if he did, he would be sure to see Sheena again.

-/-/

Zelos had been to Sybak once or twice and found that he could never live there. A town so full of scholars and intellectuals (not that Zelos was unintelligent—quite to the contrary. He simply preferred a more casual lifestyle.)

Zelos leans carefully against the wall of the room while one of the research directors explains what they had found out about Cruxis Crystals and Colette's illness. The smell of old tomes and fresh ink was thick in the small, windowless room.

"Cruxis Crystals and Exspheres are lifeless beings. They're alive, just not in the same way we are. They're similar to parasites in that they fuse to other life forms. When they fuse, the mana in the body becomes unstable, eventually going out of control if there is no Key Crest."

"And it turns them into monsters." Genis surmised.

The director nodded. "Right. And because Cruxis Crystals are evolved Exspheres, we believe that Colette is suffering from a parasitical infection."

"So the process of releasing the seals promotes the fusing of the host and the Cruxis Crystal. That's fascinating…" Raine murmured.

"Professor, you shouldn't talk like that after all that's happened to Colette." Lloyd said disapprovingly.

"So if she gets a Key Crest, would she return to normal?" Zelos asked.

At the director's nod, Lloyd volunteered to make her a Key Crest. Or to at least fix a broken one. When Lloyd attached the Key Crest to the necklace that he had apparently made Colette for her birthday, they found that it had no effect.

"We could ask Dirk for help." Raine suggested.

"But he's back in Sylvarant!"

Zelos shook his head. "Can't let you do that, remember? I'm supposed to be keeping tabs on you."

"Then come with us, oh compassionate Chosen One."

"You like to help girls." Raine reminded him. "This is to save Colette."

Zelos glances at the Sylvaranti. They were different, that was for certain and he couldn't exactly ignore that plea for help when Lloyd kept looking back at Colette and there was a desperate hope in his eyes and the others, Genis and Raine, all seemed so determined to make her better. And Sheena had risked her life and village for Colette and the rest of these misfits, so truly they had to be worth it.

Zelos sighed, brushing a stray lock of red hair from his face. "Wonderful. How am I supposed to be able to snitch when you all put it like that?"

Lloyd's eyes lit up. "Awesome. Now all we need is fuel."

At the clanking of armor and thudding footsteps, they all turned to see the Papal Knights. "We hereby declare you and your companions traitors attempting to destroy Tethe'alla."

As the knight took a syringe and drew blood from Lloyd's arm, Zelos explained that all criminals had to undergo biological testing before being arrested because of the caste system.

"Some half-elves don't look any different from humans." Zelos said. "It's the only surefire way to detect them."

"Sir! We found a match!"

Everyone whirled around to look at the syringes that two knights were holding up. The blood was red to be sure, but it had a very light blue cast to it.

"Genis! Professor!"

"It's true." Raine said, holding her head high, though she couldn't quite meet Lloyd's eyes.

"I don't know what it's like in your world, "Zelos said slowly, "But in Tethe'alla, the half-elves are at the bottom of the caste system. Half-elves guilty of a crime are executed without exception."

It was only when they began to lead them away that Raine lowered her head, Genis doing the same. It hurt to see Lloyd fighting for their innocence and Zelos' almost cold acceptance of it.

-/-/

Sheena knelt on the tatami mats, forcibly not looking at Tiga, but rather at the mats by her knees. They seemed thinner and less sturdy than they had the last time she'd visited and that observation made her wince a little inwardly. Mizuho had never been a rich village. The payment for their missions hardly enough for the individual household, let alone for a people who shared all they had with each other. But then, when they had basically nothing in terms of money, there was quite a lot to go around.

It just drove home the fact that the payment for the successful assassination of Sylvarant's Chosen would have been able to help a lot.

"Well done." Tiga said finally.

Her head jerked up. "Excuse me?"

"I said well done. I have thought over your report and I believe that you completed it to the best of your ability."

"But, sir—"

"Allow me to finish. You did fail us, yes, but you will redeem yourself by once again accompanying the Sylvaranti, continuing your observations. They will be a powerful piece in history and I believe we must be able to foresee any unexpected movements that may not benefit us." Tiga leveled her with a stare. "You will not fail us again."

"…Yessir."

Sheena rose, bowing before stepping outside. It had been too long since she had been to Mizuho and she hadn't realized how much she really hadn't missed it. Not to say that she didn't love her village dearly, she did. The people with their natural thought of their neighbors and the smell of freshly made rice and the soil of the fields.

But she hadn't missed any of it.

Sheena had traveled so much and found that she loved the places she had been to as well. Luin, even in its current state of ruin, had a somber beauty to it that was but a shadow of what it had, and could once again, be. Triet with the open markets and the bright patterns. Asgard and its bright people and fantastic knick-knacks that worked only in the towns' strong winds. Palmacosta had been a true sight to see. Salt permeated even the air and, even with the constant scene of hustling and bustling that was on the docks and on market streets, the people were solid as a rock against the constant thunderous waves of the ocean. Even Hima, with its small population and harsh mountainside winds had its own charm.

And that was only in Sylvarant, a world where she had found a place even when constantly on the move. Meltokio was as solid as Palmacosta's people, more so, even. And as much as she could hate the people there, she had grown to appreciate the sometimes cookie cutter architecture and the interesting people down the small streets in the lower quarters of the city.

People she never would have met if it hadn't been for Zelos. Because Zelos had something in him that liked to meet people, liked to know them and their lives, even if he didn't allow them to do the same. And so many people had known him as Zack in the lower quarters when he would dye his hair and slur his words a little so that the good upbringing accent didn't slip.

"You're leaving again." Orochi had an odd thing to him that always had him stating things that should be questions.

"It's a mission." Sheena explained. It was the expected answer because in Mizuho, everything was for the village and individuals were prized for their skills first and personalities second. Most of the time.

"You would have left anyway." Orochi wasn't looking at her, focused instead on the village gate that was just in their line of sight.

"You don't know that." It was a weak argument and they both knew it.

"It's fine, Sheena. I won't speak for anyone else here, but I for one never really expected you to stay here forever. You weren't born here. I actually didn't expect you to come back after you left for Meltokio." For Orochi, it was practically a speech.

"I only went there because of a mission, Orochi. I was happy here." It wasn't a complete lie. She had been, but perhaps it had only been because she hadn't known the world that lay beyond Mizuho's borders.

"Once, perhaps. But you have not seen yourself around the Chosen." Sheena blinked in surprise. She hadn't expected Zelos to be a part of the conversation. "You seem as though you are a different person around him. You…" Orochi searched for the words, finding it difficult. Ninjas didn't make very good poets. "You're like a lantern." Sheena arched an eyebrow at this, lips twitching involuntarily towards a smile, but Orochi knew that it wasn't meant in malice. "You are pretty to look at without the night, but it is when night comes and the fire is lit that you can really see the lantern…I'm not making any sense."

Sheena chuckled softly and smiled up at him. This had to be the most she'd heard him talk in the last three years, possibly the most ever. "Don't worry, I get it. And, thanks, I guess, but I need to get going. I don't wanna be late for the mission."

"Of course not." Sheena hadn't even had a chance to empty her pack, small as it was, when she'd gotten here. It had been running a little thin, most of the things inside having fallen out during the crash. But there, sitting by the village gates, was her pack and it was just plump enough to tell her that there was perhaps three days' worth of supplies and the stitching that had been beginning to become undone by the strap had been neatly mended. Sheena smiled, but didn't look back to Orochi.

This wasn't the time to be looking back anymore because the misfits who had somehow, in a month and some change, become as close to her as Orochi and Zelos needed her. Maybe even as much as she needed them.

-/-/

Zelos, Lloyd, Colette and Presea, the small pink-haired girl that had helped them into the castle, were led to the basement. One of the researchers there, a half-elf named Kate, gave them a dirty look over her shoulder as she scribbled something down.

"If you've the good fortune of being born human, you shouldn't waste such a life by being a criminal." Then she took another look at the group and stared at Presea. "It's you."

Zelos leveled his gaze at her. "Now how does a half-elf in the basement of the Imperial Research Academy know a human child?" At Lloyd's questioning confusion, Zelos added, "The half-elves in the Research Academies, both the Sybak and Meltokio branch, almost never leave their labs. Ever."

"That's insane…" Lloyd murmured. The thought of never seeing sunlight, of never leaving this musty room and feeling the nearby ocean breeze on your face…it was one of the worst things Lloyd could imagine.

"My name is Kate and Presea was our research sample." The half-elf replied.

"What kind of research is that?"

"We were attempting to manufacture a Cruxis Crystal inside the human body. By allowing them to feed on a human body—"

Lloyd's fists clenched. "That's the exact same way that the Desians made Exspheres!"

"What are you talking about?" Kate asked.

"In other words, I'm wondering how you could treat people like that!"

"I could ask you the same thing!" Kate retorted, cool demeanor finally broken. "How can you humans treat half-elves the way you do?"

"I treat them the same as everyone else! There isn't any difference between people's lives, whether their human or half-elven."

The sudden explosion of smoke stung at Zelos' eyes, but the sight was worth it because Sheena was standing there with her hands on her hips and Corrine at her feet. "He's a weird one, Kate." Sheena tossed them a lopsided smile as she began to expertly pick the lock on their handcuffs. "Raised with half-elves and a dwarf."

"Are you planning on running away?" Kate asked.

Sheena looked at Kate with a confidence Zelos had never seen in her. "Are you going to try and stop us?"

"We need to save his half-elf best friend." Zelos says.

Kate's facial muscles seemed to want to twitch upwards. "Well, if you are going to run away, especially if it is as you say, Chosen, then at least use the secret way out of here."

As they climb up and out of the secret way that Zelos can't imagine why the half-elves didn't use it sooner, Sheena is already out with Colette, waving a hand in front of her face with a concerned expression.

"She really doesn't respond to anything." Sheena said sadly as they ran through the city.

"Did you expect her to?" Zelos asked quietly.

"I'd hoped." She looked at him sideways, suspicion in her eyes. "You haven't done anything funny to her, have you?"

Zelos bristled. "Of course I haven't!"

"It wouldn't surprise me if you had. I've heard the rumors about you going back to your womanizing ways."

"And what do you mean it wouldn't surprise you?"

Sheena gave him a flat look. "You peeked at me in the shower before, remember?"

Zelos smiled charmingly. "Darling, we both went over this years ago. It was curiosity towards the unknown."

Sheena rolled her eyes and didn't answer. Just kept running and nearly ran into Lloyd's back because of a sudden stop.

Lloyd cursed. "They're trying to cut us off." Zelos looked past the others and saw that they were indeed raising the bridge. "We'll have to jump it."

Zelos protested immediately. "Whoa—time out. Are you insane? If we fall from this height, we'll die."

"They die if we don't." Lloyd argued, eyes flashing garnet before running past Zelos, the others following without argument.

Zelos decided he hated the sensation of falling through the air with nothing but tons of ocean water to catch him. The fall seemed at once too fast and too slow and as much as he grabbed instinctively for something to hold onto, the air continued to slip through his fingers.

"Undine, help!" Sheena cried and there was a rush of mana coming from her before the water spirit formed from the waves, nearly invisible in the harsh light of midday. Water surged upwards, carrying them to safety before Undine disappeared.

Even as they fought the Papal Knights, damp as they were, Zelos couldn't help but wonder when Sheena had succeeded in making a pact. And the majority of the uncertainty that had plagued her before no longer seemed to be there as she fought with sure, powerful movements.

Something about her month or so in Sylvarant had changed her and Zelos wanted to know what.

-/-/

"Walk with me?" Zelos asked, offering Sheena a hand up. Genis was stirring at something that smelled delectable in his pot, everyone attempting to relax after the stressful day. Mount Fooji was little more than a blurry silhouette on the horizon that was only visible now because the sunset had thrown everything into sharp relief.

Sheena accepted the help, allowing Zelos to pull her to her feet. They walked for a long time in companionable silence, the nearby gentle crashing of waves of the Tethe'alla Bay the only sound.

"Are you ever going to tell me what happened over there?"

"You say that like I've been hiding it from you. I just saw you for the first time in a month and we've hardly had a chance to breathe."

"I know. But I figure I should ask now so you can start bringing back some memories you might have forgotten. I want the whole story."

"Of course you do." She said as he slung his arm around her shoulders in the familiar way. "But…nothing really happened."

"Sheena," She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He never used her real name, marking whatever he had to say as serious. "If you're going to lie to me, at least lie better. You can start with how and when you made a pact with a proper Summon Spirit if you like."

Sheena pressed her lips together, not quite sure where to start with even that portion of the story. It had all happened so fast that it still seemed like a blur.

"The beginning would be a great start too." Zelos suggested. "Dazzle me with your amazing not-killing of Colette?" A blush dusted her cheeks and she looked away stubbornly. Zelos grinned slowly. "What incredible new dredges of clumsiness have you reached?"

"…Fell into a hole." Sheena muttered, but loud enough so that she wouldn't have to repeat herself. "Colette, who is clumsier than me by a mile, tripped over a lever that opened up a mine shaft under me and I fell in."

Zelos burst out laughing, unable to help it. The mental image was too hilarious. "Only you, darling. Only you."

-/-/

It became their ritual every night that they didn't have the night watch that they would take a short walk, usually collecting firewood and herbs for dinner, careful not to stray too far from camp. Not that they couldn't take care of themselves, but it was best to be careful. They still didn't know the full extent of the newly emerged Tethe'allan monsters and they thought it best that they weren't taken by surprise.

They spoke on their experiences in the past month (had it truly been so little amount of time? It seemed as though their parting had been ages ago). Zelos told her the vague stories of what had been going on in the upper circles of Tethe'allan society. Without her, he explained, there wasn't a whole lot of point in disguising himself and going about the city.

Sheena told him about Luin and about the unicorn and Undine. Zelos told her the gossip that sometimes made her laugh. Sheena spoke reluctantly about Kratos' betrayal and, as she didn't usually look at him when she told her stories, she didn't see the rage that twisted his fine-boned features.

Sheena jumped when she heard him utter curses that he'd learned when they had spent the day in the lower quarters of Meltokio. Zelos was a passionate person, yes, but it a rare thing that his anger grew to quite that point.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, running her eyes quickly over him, instinctively searching for any injuries Raine may have missed.

"How can you ask me that? Of course something's wrong! That son of a bitch betrayed you all and you talk about it like it doesn't matter!"

"It's in the past, Zelos." Sheena said quietly. "If I always worry about the past, I'll be worse than a cripple."

He studied her; his anger leashed and in control once more. "You're talking about Volt."

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about." Her eyes were steady as she looked at him. "What happened with…with Volt crippled me for years with summoning and making pacts. I won't let it happen again."

Dear Goddess, but Lloyd's optimistic idealism had rubbed off on her. "I want you to remember what you just said to me and tell me that after you make a pact with him."

She stiffened. "Don't you mean _if_ I make a pact with him?"

"No, I meant what I said." He tilted a smile at her. "You're a better summoner than you think you are."

Sheena didn't look at him, didn't reply. Just spun on her heel in a rare, graceful movement and Zelos watched as she walked back to camp. He'd known she wouldn't believe him. Sheena had an odd streak in her self-esteem to never believe that she could do anything absolutely amazing.

It was as Zelos was just about to tuck into his bedroll that Lloyd's voice floated over the dying embers. "You shouldn't make her angry like that."

He levered himself onto his elbows, meeting the brown eyes that were tinted red in the fading glow of the fire. "What are you talking about?"

Lloyd jerked his head meaningfully at the slumbering Sheena. "She looked mad when she came back and you guys always come back together."

"It's not your business, Lloyd." Zelos said firmly. Truly, it wasn't.

Lloyd bristled. "It is when a friend of mine is upset!"

Raine turned over in her sleep and they both went quiet until she stopped shifting. Zelos glanced between Raine and Lloyd, the latter of which seemed to refuse to look away from him.

"Look, Zelos, she's been through a lot and whatever it was to make her mad, you shouldn't do it. She doesn't need the extra stress."

Zelos pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, bumpkin, I've known Sheena _way_ longer than you have. I've seen her angry—really angry, I mean. She was three seconds away from punching out one of the noblewomen at a dinner party. She wasn't mad today. Or if she was, she wasn't mad enough for her to punch my lights out and you know she wouldn't hesitate on that. Sometimes, things just need to be said."

Lloyd frowned. He wasn't confused, Zelos knew. The Chosen knew that Lloyd was far more intelligent—or perhaps intuitive—than he looked. "Maybe, but would it kill you to phrase things a little more delicately?"

Zelos couldn't resist chuckling. "Because you are the master of delicacy and subtlety over there?"

"That's besides the point!"

"Look, bumpkin, I know about phrasing things delicately. I grew up with nobles, remember? But Sheena would kill me if I tried things like that on her. I think 'mind twisting word games' was the exact phrase. I promised her I'd never do it again."

Lloyd didn't reply, allowing Zelos' memories of that time to come to the forefront of his thoughts. It hadn't been very long after they'd met, perhaps about five months, and there had been a charity ball of some sort. Charity for what, Zelos couldn't remember to save his life. But Sheena had already had to deal with some business concerning Mizuho and their place in Meltokio society and she was in no mood for dancing and false smiles. As soon as it was polite to leave, Sheena had vanished from the room and Zelos had followed.

"_Am I right in thinking that you're…slightly displeased by today?" He'd said, jogging a bit to catch up with her. Sheena was slow in heels, but the shoes were off and dangling in her hand._

_Sheena held up the free hand. "Don't start. I've had enough of you noblepeople's mind twisting word games. If you're going to tell me something, tell it to me straight."_

_Zelos held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. And if it makes you feel better, I'll swear not to do it again on my honor."_

"_You know what the word honor means?" She said doubtfully, but there was a smile tugging at her lips that let him know that she wasn't as annoyed as she sounded._

"_Darling, of course I do." He flashed her a grin. "I come from a long line of Chosens after all. Now why don't I take you for some cinnamon buns and tea?"_

_Sheena eyes him suspiciously. She hasn't quite trusted him yet. "Now? It's almost midnight!"_

_He smiled mysteriously. "Never underestimate the great Zelos Wilder."_


	4. Of Coffee, Laundry and Ghosts

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Tales of Symphonia. My friend 'borrowed' it and has lost it…He has angered the sad panda.

**Author's Note:** We're on the last stretch of school. Final semester and I cannot wait for summer vacation; even it is going to get impossibly hot down here. It already is, actually. Just read the new FMA manga…and I swear I am so annoyed at the cliffhanger!

There's more Colette in this chapter than before and, to be perfectly honest, I don't like Colette. At all. But she is, unfortunately, necessary to the story, so I shall try my hardest to not mutilate her character. And this chapter also contains my most hated dungeon. Or it might be second most hated…the Palmacosta Ranch definitely gives it a run for its money….

-/-/-/

_The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you. ~Kendall Hailey,_ _**The Day I Became an Autodidact**_

_**-/-/**_

"Colette, don't go!" Lloyd's plea sounded uncharacteristically quiet on the mountaintop, though everyone knew that in truth it was much louder.

"A futile effort. Your words won't be able to reach a Chosen who has lost their soul." Pronyma told them, hovering several inches above the ground. Her eyes were drawn back to Colette's Cruxis Crystal. "Why is there such a crude Key Crest on it? It's pointless I suppose, but I shall remove this ugly thing at once."

As Pronyma reached for the Cruxis Crystal a voice, stuttering back into slight hoarseness protested. "N—no! This is a birthday present that Lloyd gave me."

From where she stood, Sheena could see the fierce, disbelieving joy that filled Lloyd's face, but Genis was the one that voiced all of their shock. "Colette spoke!"

The blonde turned back around, not something Sheena would have personally done if there was an enemy at her back, and seemed confused as she looked at them. Sheena's heart dropped a little closer to her stomach. Had Colette forgotten all of them except for Lloyd?

"What are you all doing inside that thing?"

Zelos pressed his lips together in vague embarrassment when Sheena looked automatically at him for having stepped into the trap in the first place.

"Impossible." Everyone's eyes, except for Lloyd's who were of course still on Colette, turned to the speaker. They'd forgotten entirely about the Renegade leader; Yuan, Pronyma had called him. "There's no way that that pitiful Key Crest could restrain something like the Cruxis Crystal."

It was only after Pronyma ordered Colette to go with her that the blonde seemed to remember that she was still behind her. Colette whirled around, chakrams unfolding from where she kept them in her sleeves before tripping, though whether it was over the device that worked the trap or her own two feet would be forever subjective.

"Oh no, I broke it."

The look on Colette's face had Zelos unable to fight the smile. Apparently Sheena's tales of Colette's clumsiness had not been exaggerated. "Nice one! I think I'm fallin' in love!"

Sheena tried to ignore him, knew that it was just how he spoke to girls. Well, most girls. He never seemed to talk that way very much with her…not that she cared whether he flirted with her or not. She winced theatrically. "That brought back some…painful…memories." Of weeks of not being able to sit right thanks to the bruises she'd gotten from falling in that mine shaft.

Genis broke out into real laughter for the first time since before he and Raine had been branded as half-elves. "Now that's our Colette."

Lloyd wasn't able to hug Colette close like he was aching to because of the sudden blast of dark magic aimed at them. None of them even thought about what to do next—simply closed in to make a semi-circle protecting Colette before returning the attacks. Genis and Raine stayed with Colette, who was still a little weak from not having proper nutrition. When you didn't have a soul, you apparently lost much of your appetite as well.

Having Colette back and safe seemed to give everyone a morale booster because they flipped and dodged and fought like they never had before. No one had to even speak to each other, moving instinctively to block and defend each other.

Raine was the one who finished Pronyma, a flare of brilliantly white gold light from her Proton spell shining all too brightly. When the light cleared, Lloyd was facing Yuan, head held high and swords steady.

"Yuan, I'm going to settle our score right now." Lloyd declared and swung at the man with a slash that Zelos nearly missed.

And they all missed the other sword that blocked it, knowing it was there only from the clang of steel meeting steel and the man who stood there.

"Kratos!" It was a word, a name, which seemed to echo from the various members of the party.

Zelos clenched his sword tighter. This man was the traitor? He would have loved to stab the bastard in the kneecap and let him walk back to wherever these guys had their base. One, it wasn't vital and he was fairly sure that Sheena might hate him a little for killing a former friend and two, it still satisfied the job because it would cause him extreme pain.

But he would remain calm. Things had been going well so far and he wasn't sure what he might do if he snapped the leash for his temper.

Yuan and Kratos' eyes met in a way that Zelos recognized. It was the way that people who had known each other for a long time seemed to be able to read the other person's thoughts just by looking at them. He and Sheena looked at each other like that sometimes and he'd caught it just now between Lloyd and Colette.

"What're you doing here, Kratos?" Yuan asked curtly. It was only now that Zelos noted the pale violet wings that seemed to shine more in the thinner air this high up the mountain.

"Lord Yggdrasill has summoned you. You should leave." It was Zelos' first time hearing the traitor speak and he could see how Kratos had fooled everyone. His voice was very neutral, with no trace of an accent to hint at where he started life.

"Are you taking the Chosen?"

"No. It's the toxicosis."

Something in Yuan's eyes tightened. "…I see." It was with one flap of the apparently powerful wings that Yuan was in the air as though he'd been born to it.

"Who the hell else is an angel?" Sheena demanded of no one, one hand on her hip.

"…What are you doing?" Seeing Lloyd's confusion, Kratos elaborated. "Why did you come to Tethe'alla?"

"To save Colette." Lloyd said it as though it were obvious.

"What good will that do? The relation of the two worlds' competing for mana won't change. The regeneration ritual simply reversed it." Kratos nodded out to the horizon. "The Tower of Salvation can still be seen in this world. That means that Tethe'alla still flourishes, but if the Chosen ever became Martel's vessel, Tethe'alla would begin to decline."

Lloyd kicked a rock in frustration. "Isn't there anything that can be done?" Lloyd asked and Zelos found it interesting that they would all still go to Kratos, the man who betrayed them, for answers and advice. "It was that Yggdrasill guy the one that made this twisted system!"

"He does not consider it twisted." Chill crept back into Kratos' voice. "Use your own head if you wish to do something about it." And then it softened again and Zelos knew that there was some history between Lloyd and Kratos. "I thought you weren't going to make anymore mistakes?"

"This stupid system…I swear I'll change it!" Zelos hadn't seen that kind of fire in Lloyd's eyes before. He wanted to know why and how Kratos could bring it out so easily.

The slight smirk was evident in the older man's voice. "Well…do your best."

It's as they're traveling back down the mountain, Kratos long gone with Pronyma's unconscious body, that Colette speaks up. "I think I'm hungry for the first time in a while. But I can still feel my wings."

Zelos offers a hand to help Sheena jump down a ledge. "I was right."

"About what?"

"Colette is _much_ cuter when she smiles." Zelos pretends not to see the flash of momentary pain in the back of Sheena's eyes and Sheena pretends that it didn't happen.

"Oh, I forgot!" Lloyd's voice floated from the front. He spun around to look at Colette, a wide smile threatening to split his face in half. "Welcome back, Colette."

-/-/-/

"Are you serious? The sewers?" Genis said with an arched eyebrow.

"It's the only way." Zelos said. "We need to get Presea back to what's-her-bucket?—Kate!—back in Sybak so that she can get a Key Crest or what not and go home, since that's all she seems to want."

"And we're fugitives right now." Raine reminded them. "We won't be allowed back over the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge."

"How long will it take to find your contacts?" Lloyd asked Sheena as they entered the dimness of the sewers.

"Not very long." She assured. "They live at the Imperial Research Academy."

"Still, this is a pretty genius way of sneaking back into the city, Zelos." Lloyd said.

"The gate closes at night, so I had to use this to get back home a lot." Zelos explained. "Careful not to step on that…I don't know how long that's been there…"

"What's the reason why you don't go home before dark?" Colette suggested.

Zelos smirked back at her. "I'd be more than happy to show you if you're interested, Colette."

Sheena rolled her eyes, but wasn't quite sure why Zelos was lying. They'd both used this entrance back in the day so that, on the days when they went exploring almost all the way out to the House of Guidance by the coast, they could get back in. Then again, for all Sheena knew, he could have been using this entrance ever since she'd left to sneak back home after being out with hunnies.

Zelos had changed in the past month and a half, had become dependent on lies and huddled in them like he did his several layers of winter clothes. It worried her.

"Don't tell me you're jealous, Sheena." Zelos said when she matched his stride. He didn't know why he felt the urge to hurt someone, especially someone he cared about, but it seemed to be something deeply ingrained in his nature. Perhaps he had been jealous himself, but of who? Kratos? That he had Sheena's respect and (dare he say it) a certain level of trust even after Kratos had betrayed her?

"Don't kid yourself. Although," Sheena shook yet another giant rat off her leg. "I swear, I'm expecting some mutated ninja rat to attack us, there's so much crap down here. Seems like the nobles have been doing as well for themselves as ever. Maybe better."

"…There's been raids lately. It's made them richer than ever before since they get to loot."

"Raids?"

"Mm." Zelos fidgeted uncomfortably, hand slipping to his belt and releasing the clasp to let a small dagger drop into his hand. He rolled the dagger on his knuckles as he spoke. Roll, roll, flip. Roll, roll, roll. "You know, obviously, that there are some half-elves that can pass for human?"

The blood drained from Sheena's face. "Don't tell me…"

Zelos nodded. "Yup. Do you remember that coffee shop that we liked so much?"

How could she not? It had been where they'd first spent their day together, the place where they'd spent countless afternoons talking. It was where Zelos had taught Sheena how to play chess and where he learned, through trial and error, how to play one of Mizuho's card games called Palace.

Sheena remembered the owners, Matt and Sara with their little girl, Marianne. "What happened to them?"

The rolling of the dagger was faster now. Roll, roll, flip. Roll, roll, roll. "…The Pope convicted them of an illegal business ownership and fraud."

And the price a half-elf had to pay for any crime—no matter how small—was execution.

"Tell me something, Zelos." The rolling stopped, the dagger perfectly still as it balanced on his knuckles. He knew that tone and knew that Sheena was trying hard to keep her temper. "Could you have done anything to stop it?"

Zelos nearly dropped the dagger in shock. How could she even ask him that? Matt and Sara hadn't been particularly close friends, but they'd been friends. People he enjoyed being around and could laugh with as they played cards.

"No, no I couldn't. And it wasn't for lack of trying." Sheena nearly flinched at his tone. Icy as his eyes. But she had to make sure because many Tethe'allans, sometimes even Zelos, were prone to prejudice and racism.

No one saw the blur drop down on Zelos in the dimness. "No one moves or the Chosen dies."

Sheena focused on the voice—polite enough with the threat adding heat to the words—and she tried to sharpen his blurry outline.

"Hey—you think you can get away with doing something like this to the Chosen?"

"One who plots the destruction of the world can no longer be deemed the Chosen."

"Lloyd…"Zelos' voice floated through the darkness. "If you abandon me here, seriously, I'll come back and haunt you."

Lloyd shrugged casually. "I dunno…I just had this sudden violent urge to abandon you." He said lightly.

Presea swung her ax at the man with a speed she really shouldn't have had considering the ax was more than half her height. The man dodged it smoothly, but he was transfixed at the sight of the young girl. "You're…"

The dimness exploded into light with the fireballs rushing towards the man. All Sheena caught of him before he ran down another sewer passage was blue hair, but the shade was impossible to determine beneath the layers of dirt.

Zelos stretched, popping his back muscles. "That ogre could've killed me!"

Sheena had a powerful urge to say something sarcastic, but she picked up the dagger where it had been dropped and tossed it to Zelos, who caught it smoothly. She caught his arm as the rest continued, waiting until they were a little farther back. "Why the hell didn't you fight back?"

"Let's look at this objectively, shall we?" Zelos jerked his head in the direction of the passage the man had disappeared down. "Giant ogre versus scrawny ol' me. Not a match-up I'm dying to have again."

"Looks are deceiving."

"Not when it comes to that guy. He knew how to fight." Zelos had been able to tell from the evenly distributed weight, the firm planting of the stance.

"I wasn't talking about him." Sheena poked him in the chest. "I was talking about you. The Zelos I know wouldn't have gone down so easily."

His lips twisted into a smirk. "That so? Things change, hunny. Get used to it."

He didn't try to block the powerful smack that echoed. He did however, rub his cheek. She hadn't held back that time.

He hadn't expected her to.

"I feel gross." Zelos announced as they climbed out of a manhole.

Similar opinions were shared by the others. "And I don't think Eau de Sewage ever comes out of your clothes." Genis said, nose wrinkling.

"I propose that we drop by the Research Academy and then clean up at my house." Zelos suggested.

Nods and words of agreement followed.

-/-/-/

"It feels like forever since we last had a real bath." Lloyd said, grabbing a laundry basket from Sheena.

"Seriously. I think I forgot what hot water felt like." Sheena hefted her own basket, balancing it on her hip and brushing her wet hair from her face as they walked outside to Zelos' small yard where Colette and Raine had strung up a laundry line.

They hung up the clothes in relative quiet, save for the occasional comment. It was after Lloyd's stomach began growling that Sheena chuckled and said, "Looks like we forgot about food too."

Lloyd shook his head, a false frown on his lips. "I am so ashamed of ourselves, forgetting such a pleasure."

They laughed and Sheena said, "Well, if you don't mind taking care of the rest since there's so little of it, I'll see what we've got so we can regain our honor."

"We have a deal."

Zelos was already in the kitchen when Sheena came in. He was dressed like the rest of them—in comfortable sweatpants that they mostly used for sleep clothes and a tank top. His hair, lustrous shine restored from the week or so on the road, was tied back into a loose ponytail, as it always was when he was at home.

"What've we got for food?"

"I'm so glad that you've come back into your domain, my domestic goddess." Zelos said, smiling as he handed her a small stack of crackers and continued in his staring of the refrigerator. She pushed him playfully before he continued, "So far, what you've got in your hand is about it other than sandwiches."

Sheena pulled a face at the thought of sandwiches, which was what they had mostly been living on since they'd been on the road. "What about actual food? I've actually been craving curry for weeks."

"Do you know how to make curry?"

"No, but Sebastian does and we can make salad and rice." Sheena pulled out several heads of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers and potatoes and handed them back to him before she shut the fridge door and grabbed the several-pound-heavy bag of rice.

"Potato salad?"

"Why not? It's good."

Zelos had never much liked potatoes, but he was willing to try it and began skinning the vegetables. "What's the rest of the stuff for?"

"Well, I learned a new recipe for a tomato salad while I was in Luin and peppers always go good with lettuce." Sheena explained, pouring the rice into the pot.

"Fair enough. Hey, Sebastian!" Zelos called as the butler was walking by from hanging the towels up outside as well. "Could you be wonderful and make us some curry?"

Genis came in a half hour later when the food's scent began to waft through the rest of the house. He watched them move and it was something like a dance. Neither bumped into the other or tried to do each other's job. "You guys can cook? Something other than sandwiches?"

"Watch it, squirt." Sheena said, skirting him as she went for some olive oil and vinegar to add to the tomato salad.

Zelos handed Genis a ladle of steak and potato stew. "Taste that for me."

Genis swallowed it obediently. "Hmm…"He said, chewing thoughtfully, "Add some cheese to that and it's great."

"Thanks, brat."

"That looks fantastic!" Colette exclaimed as she saw them carrying out the food. They'd all decided on eating outside because this was too nice a night to waste it indoors. Besides which, they were all far too accustomed to eating beneath the stars and on prickly grass to eat anywhere else. "Can I help with something?"

Zelos smiled at her. "Just don't try and carry anything. Knowing your luck, we'd lose a plate of this fantastical food."

Colette blushed, but laughed along with the others. The food was passed around and scooped into plates, the bread sliced and handed out; there was a short fight over the butter knife that Raine won.

Sheena caught the look on Zelos' face as he handed her the plate of tomato salad. "What is it?"

"Nothing really. It's just…I wish Seles could be here."

Sheena had heard Zelos talk about his younger half-sister before, though she'd never met the girl personally. Seles had already been put into the Abbey by the time Sheena had run into Zelos. And, despite their…dysfunctional…relationship, she knew that Zelos would do anything for his little sister.

-/-/

"You look gorgeous." Sheena smirked at Zelos, who glared sleepily at her. Sheena was a natural early riser and had been up for nearly an hour where Zelos, who was also an early riser but was never awake until he'd had a shower and some coffee.

His hair was tangled and there were smudges beneath his eyes. Sheena knew that those were signs of nightmares and a bad night's sleep, but it wasn't as if she could do much here. Zelos usually got by with taking watches while they were on the road, but here at home, there was nothing any of them could do.

By the time Zelos was downstairs, hair combed and dressed, Sheena had already brewed a pot of coffee. "You are amazing, darling." He said as she handed him a mug.

She smiled, taking a sip of her own mug. "Like I needed you to tell me that."

One by one, the others were downstairs, some still half-asleep like Lloyd who was half leaning on Colette and others wide awake like Raine.

"We have to meet with Kuchinawa today, don't we? To get the Elemental whatsit." Lloyd said, smothering a yawn as he scooped some scrambled eggs onto his plate.

"Cargo. Elemental Cargo. And yeah." Sheena replied.

"So it's a converted land vehicle?"

"Yup. So a boat, in other words. It makes sense, since we can't go over the bridge."

"Anything is better than those washtubs." Raine muttered darkly and everyone chuckled warmly, except for Zelos, who blinked wide-eyed at them all.

"Are you serious? You guys crossed an ocean in washtubs?"

Sheena grinned big at him. "Yup. And Raine was terrified over there."

Raine glared defensively. "No, I wasn't!"

"If you say so, Raine."

-/-/-/

"I have no intention of fighting you inside Sybak."

Zelos noted the wording as he stood towards the back, arms folded across his chest. Inside Sybak. Outside of it, everything was fair game. Lloyd had been the only one who'd pulled a weapon; the others had merely tensed and moved so that they made a wall around Colette.

Kratos moved faster than they could see, sweeping Lloyd's leg while using his left hand to divert the instinctive swing from the blade. "You still lack the skills to beat me, Lloyd."

"What the hell makes you think you can insult me?"

"I'm simply saying the truth."

Zelos couldn't even disagree with Kratos there, though he'd never admit it out loud. Part of becoming a stronger warrior was knowing when to back off because your opponent was out of your league.

"I'm never taking it off." Colette said, fingering her Cruxis Crystal with its homemade Key Crest. "It was a gift from Lloyd."

Kratos shook his head. "Foolish sentiments."

They watched as he walked away and the first thing that came out of Zelos' mouth was, "That guy is an arrogant SOB. He talks like he knows everything."

Sheena shot him a look. "Since we're on the subject of ways of talking, do something about the vulgar language, why don't you?"

Zelos frowned in confusion as the others continued deeper into the city. He hadn't thought Sheena would, even indirectly, defend Kratos after what he'd done.

The basement of the Research Academy seemed to have only grown dimmer and more foreboding after being out in the strong sunlight for so long. Kate looked up when she heard the door opening from where she was kneeling to pick up a stack of papers.

"It's you all!"

"We promised we'd come back after we saved our friends." Lloyd said it as if there wasn't any other thing they could have done.

"Please, explain to me more about the research that Presea was involved in. Something about creating a Cruxis Crystal inside her body?" Raine asked.

"Yes, that's true. We call it the Angelus Project."

Lloyd started at the name. "What? That's the project my mother was a part of."

"The Exsphere is nothing special. It's the Key Crest placed on it. It delays the parasitic process, the length of which has been recorded of a few days or even decades. This delay can cause the Exspheres to mutate into Cruxis Crystals."

"This parasitic infection, is it the reason for Presea's subdued emotional reactions?"

At Kate's nod, Genis asked, "So she's just like Colette. What will happen to her in the end?"

"When the parasitic process is complete, she'll die."

Lloyd's face was pale, even in the dim light. "You have to save her! You promised you would!"

And Lloyd did so believe in people keeping their promises.

Kate nodded, crossing her arms across her stomach. "I will. A promise is a promise, after all. To save her, you'll need to speak to a dwarf named Altessa who lives deep in Gaorrachia Forest. He participated in this project with us on order of the Pope."

Zelos looked at Kate, considering. It was rare for any half-elf to speak the Pope's name without spitting, cursing or saying it as though they had a vile taste on their tongue. She was odd for a half-elf, or perhaps he was just seeing more into the entire race than any human had ever thought to.

-/-/

"I don't wish to fight you." The man said, holding up cuffed hands. "I simply wish to speak with that girl."

"You're the one from the sewers!" Genis exclaimed. Sheena had forgotten that he must have had a much better look at the man with his half-elven sight. "You must be joking if you want to talk with her? Or have you forgotten that you tried to kill us?"

"I certainly never intended to take your lives. My orders were to retrieve a girl named Colette. I swear, I will do none of you any harm. I just wish to speak with…Presea, did you say her name was?" At the sight of the Exsphere at the hollow of her collarbone, his eyes widened. "You're a victim as well?"

He bent closer to inspect, but she jerked away, body tense. At her clear panic, the others leapt in to fight. The prisoner was skilled in combat, not all movements flowing, but it was all one movement. Greaves protected his shins from their bladed blocks and he was graceful and flexible enough to keep up with Sheena's acrobatic movements. She barely managed to land a quick jab to his diaphragm and disable his breathing for a few precious moments so that Raine managed to knock him out with her staff.

They all stood, panting in the humidity of the forest. "We should take him with us." Raine suggested. "He sounds like he has reasons for what he's doing. He might be able to tell us more about any plans the Pope might have."

Colette cocked her head, her hearing as sharp as they'd been when she was undergoing the angel transformation. "There are heavy footsteps and they keep getting louder."

"The Papal Knights are waiting for us if we go back the way we came." Lloyd reminded them.

Sheena fidgeted with the hem of her shirt for a moment before deciding. "There's no choice. I'll take you to our village of Mizuho."

Zelos protested immediately. "Hold it, Sheena. Mizuho has always been a hidden village, kept secret from outsiders. They won't like it very much if you show up with a bunch of strangers."

"But we're trapped otherwise. We have to take shelter in Mizuho. Carry the big guy for us poor, weak women, won't you?"

Zelos wanted to both glare and laugh at the innocent smile on her lips. Zelos looked down at the man. "You're saying that you want me to carry this ogre, by myself? You've gotta be kidding, darling."

Colette moved forward to help him carry the man, but when she stood, she was holding the man's weight entirely by one hand. "He's much lighter than I thought. I can carry him by myself."

The males were left ogling her as she strode after Sheena. Zelos heard Raine's voice as she commented to the women, "Men are so useless these days, aren't they?"

-/-/-/

It had been a long time since Zelos had seen Orochi. He had grown into his height. The ninja would have stood a little taller than Zelos, but his shoulders were also broader compared to Zelos' lithe form.

Orochi's eyes widened at the sight of them, especially Sheena. He hadn't thought he would see her for a long while, though Kuchinawa had told him that she seemed to be doing fine. Better than fine if he read the set of her shoulders and the confidence in her stance correctly.

"Sheena! How could you bring the outsiders here, to the village?" She was already in enough trouble with everyone. She didn't need another reason for everyone to mistrust her. "You know it is forbidden!"

"I'm perfectly prepared to accept any punishment I may be given. Inform the Vice-Chief that I have brought the travelers from Sylvarant."

Orochi raked an eye over the travelers, recognizing the Chosen from his last visit. He had half-expected them to look entirely different from Tethe'allans. Perhaps they would be giants, with broad terrible arms or stork men with long arms and legs, all sharp angles and awkwardness. But they don't look anything like that. They look ordinary, just like any other citizens he might have found in Tethe'alla.

Perhaps Sheena had had the same epiphany when she looked at them for the first time. Perhaps that was why she had never been able to assassinate anyone, despite her skills. Because she saw them as people, not targets, not deaders. People.

Tiga looked at the Sylvaranti, curious about them. Their skin was a little browner than most Tethe'allans, but as they were from the declining world, surely they must have had to work harder for a living as well as all of the traveling. Their accent was odd; rolling and warm, occasionally slurring a syllable or two together.

To business. "Because Sheena failed to kill you, the people of Mizuho are now facing persecution from the Church and the Royal Family. But before I can decide what it is we will do about this, I must ask you all a question. What is it that you plan to do in Tethe'alla, the land of your enemies?"

The leader of the group, a young man with an unruly head of brown hair who wore two swords at his hips, looked him straight in the eyes. "Someone asked me something similar to that. They wanted to know what I'd come all the way here for, what it was that I wanted to do. I think I finally have an answer. I want a world where everyone can have a normal life. I'm tired people having to become sacrifices. I'm tired of discrimination. I'm tired of people becoming victims. I'm tired of it all."

Tiga knew that the young man spoke the truth. It was written in the lines of his face and the fire in his eyes. "You are an idealist. The worlds can only flourish by victimizing the other. As long as that fact remains, anything else that you say is mere sophistry."

"This world was made by that Yggdrasill guy, wasn't it? If some human or elf built this twisted system, than we should be able to change it!"

"You speak like the hero, Mithos. He was an incredible idealist. He insisted that there was a way to end the Ancient War by having the two warring countries coexist. Do you believe you can be the next Mithos?"

Lloyd shook his head. "I want to save the worlds my way, with the help of the people I care about."

"…I see. So you aren't concerned with following past methods." Sheena and Zelos both tensed at the wording. Mizuho was a village steeped in tradition. "We shall also search for a new path."

Sheena leaned forward a little on her knees, not quite believing what she was hearing. "Vice-chief, are you saying…"

"Yes, I am. You will have the aid of our information network. But in return, when peace and prosperity has been found for both worlds, we wish to move our people to Sylvarant." Tiga thinks that Mizuho would do better there. They were farmers at heart and, if he was reading the Sylvaranti correctly and from Sheena's report, there was rich farmland over there, where in Tethe'alla, much of the farmland was taken up by the Gaoracchia Forest. "We don't need you to decide it for everyone, simply to help us with the moving."

Lloyd turned, meeting everyone's eyes in turn. "Is this alright with everyone?"

There were murmurs and nods of agreement from the group.

Tiga glanced back at Sheena. How she had grown in the mere nearly two months she had been with the Sylvaranti. Her self-assurance was strong, her voice and gaze steady. Tiga wonders what happened to the girl that he, and the rest of the village, had helped to raise. "Then I hereby order Sheena to continue to accompany you. But not merely as an observer, but as a representation of Mizuho's people. Make us proud."

Sheena was trying hard not to let the smile split her face. "Yes, sir!"

"Tiga…are you absolutely sure that you want to turn the Church and the Royal Family against you like that?" Zelos asked. "It seems like a pretty risky move."

"I ask you the same question. Given the choice between a power that wishes to sacrifice one of the worlds and another that wishes to save both worlds, which would you choose?"

"The first answer that comes to my mind is 'the one that's likely to win', but I guess it would be the one that wants to save both."

Tiga nodded, satisfied with the answer. "Exactly. We are devoting all of our resources to finding the Rheairds. It shouldn't take long seeing as how Sheena attached a guardian to them."

Lloyd nodded. "Thank you for your time and help."

The prisoner was groggy, but hadn't gotten away thanks to Orochi's watchfulness. Lloyd knelt by the man's head. "What's your name?"

"Regal."

"I'm sorry about this, Regal, but we're going to have to keep you prisoner for a bit longer."

"Lloyd, we could let him fight with us. We know he's good."

"He could betray us." Zelos was glad that one member of the group was still thinking clearly, even if it was Genis.

"Not if he wants to talk to Presea he won't."

"I don't totally agree with this, but I'm not going to make a fuss." Sheena said, hands on her hips. "I started off as your enemy too."

"Will you fight with us, Regal?" Lloyd asked.

He nodded. "I swear by these shackles I wear that I won't betray you."

-/-/

Ozette was a tree town, built on the outskirts of the Gaoracchia Forest. The thick roots and trunks of trees were used as walkways and buildings. The inn was in a hollowed out trunk and the market needed to be reached by walking a giant branch the size of most roads. It was almost entirely shaded, with only the occasional breaks for sunlight. Everything smelled earthy and fresh. The blacksmith store was the only store built entirely on the ground for obvious reasons. The wood for hearth and home fires was brought in from outside the town limits for no one would cut down one of Ozette's precious trees.

Presea had disappeared down an incline not far from the blacksmith's. The soil here was hard-packed and solid. Nothing fell away from beneath their feet and the plants that grew so low to the ground and in such little sunlight were rare and tough.

There was only one cottage at the bottom of the incline, but it was lighter there than in the center of town. Zelos could see how it could once have been beautiful; like looking at an elderly woman and seeing how she must have been lovely in her youth. The walls might once have been smooth and painted, the banister of the porch not splintered and cracking, but white-washed and perhaps with flowers being cared for lovingly in the flowerbeds. How the window frames must have once had glass and glowed with a cheerily warm light from the cooking fire. Had laughter and friendly voices once floated from inside as the table was set and dinner prepared?

They entered the cottage after Presea and the inside was no better than the outside. Several thick layers of dust coated everything and shelves that might once have held books or spices were knocked to the ground. Cobwebs decorated corners and beneath tables and a family of mice scurried back into their hidey holes.

Everyone immediately covered their noses for the stench was disgusting. Zelos couldn't describe or name it, but some instinctive part of him knew that it wasn't anything that could be of the living world.

A shapeless lump was in a narrow bed by the corner, the other bed being wider and Zelos could see the faded designs on the worn blanket. The designs were of flowers and unicorns—the things of young girls. Sheena's hand found Zelos' and gripped it hard. He could feel her trembling, her eyes wide with horror at the ghost of a life.

Raine strode across the room to look beneath the blanket. She was a braver person than the rest of them, but Zelos both wanted and didn't even wish to imagine what was beneath that blanket that could make a person as cold as Raine recoil like that.

Raine swallowed, looking away from the bed towards the rest of them. "I…I believe that it is because of the parasitism that Presea has no idea…of what has become of the person in that bed."

Regal looked gently down at Presea. His voice reminded Sheena of Kratos' somewhat; deep and calm. A good father voice, she supposed. "Presea…are you not coming with us to Altessa's house?"

The child with the empty eyes looked up at him. "I must do my job."

"We should leave Presea here for now." Raine said and everyone looked at her, not quite believing it. How could they leave her here, in a skeleton of a home that reeked of death? "She'll only fight back if we force her. We should see Altessa by ourselves."

The rest of them nodded reluctantly and Sheena clutched tighter to Zelos' hand. Sheena's knowledge of how to take lives, whether by poison or by the knife, had never extended to this. She didn't wish to imagine what horrors might have happened to have this place so still that even the air stopped moving.

As the rest of them exited the cottage, Zelos tugged her close enough that he released her hand and gave her a tight, one-armed hug. He didn't bother with the usual reassurances of 'It's going to be alright' or 'Things will get better' because he knew that things didn't always get better and he hated lying to her.

-/-/

"_When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares. ~Henri Nouwen"_


	5. Trusting Pasts and Futures

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Tales of Symphonia. My friend 'borrowed' it and has lost it…He has angered the sad panda.

**Author's Note:** I forgot how long this game actually is and it feels much longer as you try to write through it. And I forgot just how many times Kratos shows up in this game. The guy's everywhere.

-/-/-/

_Deciding whether or not to trust a person is like deciding whether or not to climb a tree, because you might get a wonderful view from the highest branch, or you might simply get covered in sap, and for this reason many people choose to spend their time alone and indoors, where it is harder to get a splinter. ~Lemony Snicket_

_-/-/_

"Hello?" Lloyd poked his head in the door. A girl with pale green hair braided down her back turned towards them from where she was poking a fire into existence at the hearth. "Excuse us, but we heard that there was a dwarf living here. Is there any chance that we could talk with him?"

The girl stood. Her voice was gentle, but she spoke slowly, almost mechanically. "You desire a meeting with Master Altessa. Please, come inside."

Having grown up with a dwarf, Lloyd had thought he knew what a dwarven workroom would look like. But Altessa's work area had tools and materials he'd never seen or heard of. Dirk had said once or twice that he had been losing his gift for his craft since he'd moved aboveground to care for Lloyd, but the swordsman had never thought it would have cost him this much.

Altessa was stouter than Dirk, and older if the length and grayness of his beard was anything to go by. His voice was deeper, more gravelly, as though it came from the depths of the stones themselves and it lacked Dirk's accent. "Who are you people?"

"My name is Lloyd. Kate in Sybak told us about you. We've come in regards to Presea."

"Leave!"

"Excuse me?'

"I don't want anything else to do with that girl. Now get out!"

The girl waved them back into the common room. "I apologize. My master has no wish to get involved with Presea."

"He doesn't care if she dies?" Anger gave Genis' voice a deeper pitch that hinted at the voice he would have in a few years.

She shook her head. "It is not that. My master regrets what he has done. I do not know if getting a new Key Crest would be in her best interest."

"How could anything be worse than living in that cruel condition while waiting to die?" Lloyd asked.

"If you truly wish to save her, you should search for inhibitor ore."

Lloyd frowned. He'd thought that that was what all Key Crests were made of. "Are you telling me that her Key Crest isn't made from inhibitor ore?"

She shook her head. "No. It is made of—"

Altessa's voice carried through the halls. "Tabatha! I told you to get rid of them!"

Tabatha bowed her head in a sort of apology. "I am sorry, but I must return. Please come back with the ore and I will attempt to persuade him."

After Tabatha had gently closed the door behind them, Colette asked, "Where can we find inhibitor ore in Tethe'alla?"

Regal spoke up. "From what I've heard," he began slowly, "It's mined in the mountains extending between Altamira and the Ymir Forest. If you're going to make Presea a Key Crest, I would like to help. I can lead you to the mine."

Lloyd tilted his head curiously. "What is your relationship with her anyways? You seem to care about her wellbeing a lot."

"There…is none." He claimed, but his eyes shifted, giving the lie away for what it was. Lloyd didn't press the issue. Regal had yet to do anything that earned him an suspicion.

"So where is the mine?"

"The one that I know of is across the sea, on the southern continent."

"Altamira?" Zelos' voice was false-bright. He loved the beach there, but the people seemed to be in a constantly too-happy state. It bothered him. "I love that place! We should totally go stop by."

Sheena glared at him. She knew that he knew that she didn't like Altamira. "We don't have time to hang out at that gaudy resort!"

Raine grimaced. "We have to go out to sea again?"

As they continued down the path, Zelos caught Regal's attention. "This has been bugging me for a while now, but haven't we met somewhere before?" Regal didn't reply, just stepped over another enormous root and kept going. "We meet such friendly people."

"So what's got that look on your face?" Sheena asked Zelos. He usually reserved that expression for when he was figuring out political struggles.

"The only Exsphere mine in the vicinity of Altamira is the Toize Valley Mine. Just for a minute, think about who owns the mountains in that area."

"It would have to be the Lezareno Company. What's your point?"

He hung his head in mock shame. "Dear goddess. Is your chest the only part of you well-endowed?"

A smack echoed through the trees, but it was only half-hearted, much like his comment.

-/-/-/

"This isn't good."

They all looked over at Regal. "Something wrong?"

"The guard system on the door has gone out of control. Someone must have destroyed it while trying to force their way in."

"Well, if it's already busted, why don't we just bust it up some more?" Lloyd suggested.

"I like it." Zelos declared. "Simple, easy to remember."

Regal stood by in silent shock as they proceeded to, quite literally, break down the door. "Such violent people."

-/-/

Genis looked up at Regal. He didn't _look_ like a murderer. "So that's why you were a prisoner. You've killed people."

Regal looked down at the young half-elf. Genis had his sister's ability to easily state things in a very frank way that would have been difficult for any other person. "I'm sorry, Genis. I imagine that it can't be very easy, travelling with a criminal. But you needn't tolerate me for long. Just until we save Presea from the Exsphere."

"I…I don't know the exact circumstances of what it was you did, but I can't ask you to leave just because you've killed people. I've hurt more people than I can count to protect myself." But he glared up at Regal, suddenly full of fire. "Don't think for one second that this means I trust you, alright?"

Regal wanted to smile as Genis jogged up to join Lloyd and Colette. He was a good kid with a strong heart. Perhaps a little naïve, but that was something inherent to all children.

-/-/-/

"That's them!" Someone shouted. "The wanted criminals!"

Everyone jerked their heads around to stare at the blacksmith's apprentice, who was pointing them out to the Papal Knights.

Sheena whipped her cards out at the same time as everyone else drew their weapons. "Why do they always show up wherever we're going?"

They stood in a circle, shoulder to shoulder with their backs to the center, trying to find an exit point. Lloyd cursed. "We're surrounded!" He instinctively pressed closer to Colette when the head knight gave an order to capture her alive.

No one held back this time. Lightning crashed and the earth rumbled from the strength of Genis' magic. Sheena was a blur among the dim shadows of the trees as she dodged, ducked, dipped and wove among the knights, her kicks aimed for joints and her cards sealed with enough power to give the men a momentary jolt of electricity, enough to stun them. Regal finished the last man off with a powerful roundhouse to the temple.

"I'm sorry, guys." Colette said. "It's my fault they're after us."

"Don't be ridiculous." Zelos told her. "They're after my life too. The Professor and Genis are wanted half-elves, Sheena is from a village of 'traitors' and Regal is considered a traitor too, on top of being a murderer. We're all at fault."

Colette smiled appreciatively. "Thanks, Zelos."

Before any of them could think to catch her, she was collapsed on her knees, clutching at her stomach and groaning in pain. Raine knelt beside her, Genis with a hand to Lloyd's shoulder so he could allow her to do her job as a healer.

"She's running a fever," Raine reported. "But I can't think of anything that could be causing this much pain."

A soft, slightly hoarse voice came from behind them. "Please move. Leave this to me."

"Presea?" They all turned to look at her, but couldn't argue with her.

Presea spun in a quick, tight circle, her ax moving with fluid ease. They all jerked back, dodging automatically and leaving a clear three feet radius around Colette, who Presea proceeded to knock out with the handle of her ax.

"Excellent work, Presea." The man that they had glimpsed Presea speaking to as they'd followed her their first time in Ozette said. He blew twice into a silent whistle. Two dragons descended from the uppermost branches.

They were small for dragons, usually meant for transporting and delivering. One grasped Colette in its claws and Presea was half-climbed onto one when Sheena summoned Corrine and the Summon Spirit grabbed the hem of the child's dress in his teeth, pulling hard so that she fell, the dragon taking off without her.

"My name is Rodyle and I am the most cunning of the Desian Five Grand Cardinals." The man, already seated on the other dragon, announced.

"What the hell are the Desians doing in Tethe'alla?" Lloyd cursed, stabbing one of his blades in the tough ground as the dragons flew away.

"…Lloyd." Regal said, "Will you help Presea?"

"I've carved the charm into the ore. She should return to normal." Lloyd carefully attached the charm to the Exsphere.

Presea's eyes became wide, fearful and she looked around like she didn't recognize anything or anyone. Her voice wasn't quite the one they'd known. It was no longer neutral, but higher-pitched; the voice of a young girl. It was a disconcerting effect when they'd seen her fight knights and monsters with ease. "…What? What am I doing here? Where's my daddy?"

With great reluctance, they took her down to the cottage, standing back so she could see for herself. Presea stumbled back from the bed, Regal catching her shoulder to keep her upright. "Wh-what have I been _doing?_"

Her scream made shivers run down their spine and pity fill their hearts. They took her outside, letting her breathe fresh air and reassuring her in soft words. It took a long time to calm her down and she reminded them, for the first time, of a frightened rabbit, trembling and breathing fast.

Lloyd and Zelos helped her dig the grave while Raine and Regal wrapped the corpse in sheets, carrying it outside once the grave was ready. An ax was placed as the only grave marker. Sheena and Colette helped clean the bedroom and, with Genis' help, wash and scrub out the rotting stench.

Finally, Presea turned to look at them properly. The tear tracks hadn't quite dried on her cheeks, but her voice was steady. "Thank you for assisting me with my daddy's burial. I have been a great burden on you all."

"You remember?"

"…Most of it."

"Why was there an Exsphere like that on you?" Genis asked.

"A person named Vharley gave it to me. My daddy was sick and I wanted to save him. I wanted to learn to wield an ax so that I could work in my daddy's place as a woodcutter, so Vharley introduced me to Rodyle and I was taken to the Sybak's Research Academy."

"The Pope was the one who ordered the experiments on you, right?" Zelos asked. "Which would mean that Rodyle is in league with the Pope."

"Presea," Regal said, "Do you have an older sister?"

She shook her head. "No. I have a younger sister. She went to work in the service of a noble and that was the last I saw of her. My mommy died when I was a child."

"Sweetheart, you're still a child." Zelos reminded her.

"…Yes, yes of course."

"We can't just leave you here if you've got no one to turn to." Sheena said, getting several nods of agreement. The people of Ozette avoided Presea, called her a cursed child for she had not aged in a long time.

"If it's alright, I would, uh, like to go with all of you."

"Why?" Lloyd inquired.

"Colette's kidnapping was my fault." Presea explained. "Please, let me help you to rescue her."

"And me as well." Regal said.

Lloyd smiled. "You guys are more than welcome to join us. The last I saw of the dragons, they were headed east."

"You've lost the Chosen."

Everyone's heads whipped around. Kratos was leaning against a post, watching them intently with garnet eyes.

Lloyd strode right up to the man. "What have you done with Colette?"

"Rodyle has ignored our orders and is acting on his own. I know nothing of it."

Raine shook her head, a bitter smirk on her lips. "How pathetic of you all, having internal strife."

Kratos shrugged half-heartedly. "Call us what you like. Rodyle won't have any choice but to abandon the Chosen. She's useless as she is now, so you can let her be."

Lloyd snorted in disbelief. "You _must_ be joking. Of course we're going to rescue Colette. And if you get in our way…" He drew his swords in one smooth, threatening motion.

Kratos looked down at Lloyd before turning his back on them. "If that's what you wish to do, I suggest you find your Rheairds and head for the eastern skies. I'm sure Mizuho's information network has found them by now."

Lloyd could only watch as Kratos strode away, thought Zelos couldn't help but notice that Kratos never used his wings if he could help it, not like the other angels they'd seen.

"Don't try and figure that guy out, Lloyd." Zelos suggested. "If he's useful, make use of him." Zelos half expected Sheena to say something about how people were worth more than that, but she just nodded her agreement.

"It's just like Kratos said." Lloyd said when they were once again standing in the Chief's hut. "Why does he say and do things to help us if he's our enemy?"

"Not quite so fast." Tiga called as they were already heading towards the door. "Before you get the Rheairds back, I must give you, Sheena, a test."

Sheena frowned, confusion wrinkling her brow. "Vice-chief?"

"Even if you did get the Rheairds back, without Volt's mana, they would crash once again. Therefore, before getting them back," Tiga watched carefully for the reaction he knew his words would invoke. "You are going to form a pact with Volt. I understand that it is difficult, but you must overcome this."

Sheena's face was bloodless. Zelos had seen her react like this the few times that Volt had ever been mentioned. He'd hoped that some of the fear would have left by now, since she had proved capable of forming a pact with Undine, but that was apparently not the case.

"Sir, I-I can't!" Quick as they all were, no one caught Sheena as she bolted out of the room.

Tiga sighed and explained, "Once before, many years back, Sheena failed to form a pact with Volt. That is the reason why our Chief has been comatose for so long. A quarter of our population was killed in Volt's rage."

Lloyd looked towards the door and headed out, intending to find Sheena, but Zelos caught his elbow. "Before you go talk to her, you should know. She might put on a strong face for everyone, but she's very much alone in this village. She…" Zelos tried to find the right words for his observations. "She's still too fragile to accept it. Go ahead. Cheer her up." He put on a false, encouraging smile. "She seems to have a thing for you anyways."

It hurt Zelos to know that Lloyd would do more good in this situation than he would. He had known her the longest after all, but Lloyd was optimistic, almost to the point of foolishness and would be able to cheer her up where Zelos was only good at saying the cold hard truth. Sheena had looked like she was going to cry and Zelos was no good with tears.

Not that he would ever admit any of that out loud.

-/-/

"You heard, didn't you?" Sheena said when she heard the crunching of soil beneath boots. "I can't do it."

Lloyd came up to stand beside her. She'd been staring at the graves by the riverside. Mizuho wrote in a different language than either the rest of Tethe'alla and Sylvarant, so he couldn't read the names, but he saw the tokens of love put on the graves. Small toys from children, flowers from wives and sisters.

"We heard. So what?"

"What do you mean, 'so what'?" Sheena exclaimed. "I could end up killing you all too."

Lloyd shook his head. "No. We won't die."

"Stubbornness isn't the key to immortality, Lloyd." She told him.

"Not because of that. Because you're going to succeed in making the pact."

"You can't know that. I've already failed once at this."

"You've made other pacts now. Your summonses have helped us countless times. You're not the old you." Lloyd smiled reassuringly at her. "I guarantee you can do it."

"And what happens if Volt goes berserk again?"

"I will personally cut him down and that'll be the end of that story."

Sheena chuckled. Lloyd's way of the world was so cut and dry sometimes, so simple. She envied him. "Alright. I'll try. But don't blame me if you get blasted by lightning."

-/-/-/

"Orochi and Kuchinawa are brothers, aren't they?" Lloyd was attempting to divert Sheena's attention away from the upcoming battle. She already looked a little greenish, but the salty sea air had done her some good. "Interesting names they've got."

Sheena glanced up at him from where she was sitting on the rail of the Elemental Cargo. She knew what he was doing and let it work. "They're old words for 'snake'. But those aren't their real names."

Zelos looked back at her, surprised. This was the first he'd heard of it. "Are they aliases?"

"Not quite. It's an old tradition in Mizuho of giving people a second name, while hiding their birth name."

"So what are their birth names?'

Sheena shrugged. "Haven't got the slightest idea. The only people who know are them, their parents and the Chief. And whoever they marry."

"So your name's a second name too?" Lloyd asked, leaning on the rail beside her.

"Mmhmm."

Zelos grinned at them. "I know her real name, Lloyd." Sheena made a scoffing sound in the back of her throat. "Violent Demonic Banshee."

She pushed him hard, making him overbalance and landing him in the water. Zelos surfaced quickly, gasping as he pushed his wet hair out of his face. "See? I told you! She's a violent banshee!"

The water was chilly this far north, but Zelos figured it was worth it to see the reluctant smile on Sheena's lips as she and Lloyd helped pull him back aboard.

-/-/

"We have to believe in her." Lloyd was saying quietly to Genis. "If we don't who will?"

"Such beautiful mutual trust." Zelos commented.

"Why do you need to make fun of these kinds of things?" Lloyd demanded.

"I'm not! Think about it for a minute. If it was me about to make the pact—"

"We wouldn't have to worry about you." Genis interrupted. "You're far too fond of yourself to think about failing."

Zelos leveled him with a look. "Can I finish? Like I was saying, if it was me, even Lloyd wouldn't be able to freely put his trust in me. I was just thinking that you have a beautiful mutual trust built from the time you've spent together."

"She's our friend. Of course we'd trust her." Lloyd said it like it was obvious. "But then…so are you. I trust you too."

"Huh…didn't expect that." Zelos said to himself, stuffing one hand in his pocket and resting the other on the hilt of his sword. The air in the temple was charged with energy, not that that surprised him, but it did make him a little uneasy. He wasn't sure just how good a Healer Raine was and if she could heal nerve damage.

The deeper they went into the temple, the tenser Sheena became. Zelos wondered if she would snap from the pressure and at that point began singing whatever song happened to come into his head, whether it be a lewd song about a barmaid that he'd learned in the lower quarters of Meltokio or a melody he'd been taught in school to remember the names of all the Summon Spirits.

Sheena flicked a glance back at him. She knew those songs, had learned many of them with him. He smiled encouragingly at her and, though it took some effort, she was able to return it.

-/-/-/

Volt was an enormous ball of electricity with large, glowing red-gold eyes. Zelos saw Sheena flinch when he appeared, but she didn't show any other outward signs of fear.

"Here I go." She said, striding forward as confidently as she could. But there was a low buzzing of electricity and any confidence she might have had snapped. "He did this before! What the hell is he saying?"

"Sheena," Raine said, "Calm down. I can translate. 'I am one who is bound to Mithos. Who are you?'"

Lloyd frowned. "How could Mithos make pacts with Summon Spirits in Tethe'alla _and_ Sylvarant?"

"Maybe he went back and forth with a Rheaird, same as us." Genis suggested.

Sheena could hear Kratos' calm voice through those of her friends. _'It could be that the previous pact-maker has broken their vow…or has already passed on. If that is the case, you just have to request that they annul their previous pact and make a new one.'_

Remember Undine and feeling that portion of her body that was as powerful as a raging ocean, Sheena spoke. "I am Sheena. I request that thou annulst thy pact with Mithos and establish a new pact with me."

"He says that his pact with Mithos is broken." Raine reported after more low static. "But he no longer desires a pact. His exact words are 'I will have no more dealings with people, therefore I desire no pact.'"

Sheena's cards were in her hands before she thought about it. All she could remember was Colette and how she'd been willing to sacrifice herself for everyone, how she'd been willing to give Sheena a chance when no one else wanted to.

"We _need_ this pact!"

A sudden shockwave surged through the temple, blasting them to the ground. Sheena, already infused with the power of a Summon Spirit, was the first to recover, though small shocks still coursed through her body.

"Dammit. This is just like what happened before." Volt was behind her before she could sense him. He blended with the charged air and her body still wasn't responding well.

As a bolt of lightning was shot at her, all she could do was stare as Corrine suddenly appeared before her without her summoning him. She stumbled towards the Summon Spirit. "Corrine? Corrine!"

"Sheena!" Lloyd didn't remember running to shield her, deflecting another lightning bolt with his blade. "You have to get ahold of yourself."

She could hardly hear Corrine's voice, weak as it was. "Volt's lost his faith in people. Make your vow and try to form a pact one more time. I'm…sorry that I couldn't be of more help."

"We can subdue Volt by force." Lloyd was saying, the others already stumbling to their numbed feet. "Don't let Corrine's effort go to waste. If you do, you'll spend the rest of your life haunted by Volt's shadow!"

Zelos was staggering, his hand twitching sporadically. His voice still wasn't working just yet and he wanted to know just how Lloyd could already be so healed. He hardly recognized the woman that was standing upright, shoulders back and head high with hazel eyes narrow and jaw set in determination.

"For the sake…of everyone who's risked their lives to protect me," Sheena declared, "Volt! I demand your power!"

Volt's power thundered and boomed through the room and they were hard-pressed to avoid the shocks. More than once, they were diving to push each other to the ground to avoid a bolt because they were still fighting the aftereffects of the lightning. Sheena was the one in the most danger, with her acrobatic flips and kicks that all involved her leaping through the air. Every time that Zelos saw a flash of lightning, he immediately looked for her, hoping that it hadn't struck her. Lloyd was the one that recovered the quickest from everything, fighting like a berserker and hacking away at Volt.

By the end of it all, Zelos was nursing a badly twisted ankle and had to be supported by Lloyd. Everyone's mana was low and as it wasn't life-threatening, Zelos figured he could just deal with it.

"Volt says 'Make your vow.'" Raine translated, leaning a little heavily on her staff.

"Just like I said." Sheena said, trying to catch her breath. "For the sake of everyone who's died or risked their lives to protect me, and for Corrine's sake as well, I want to save both worlds."

"'The vow has been made. I entrust my power to the pact-maker.'"

Undine appeared in a rush of cool air, hovering above the ground. "A link between the two worlds has been severed because you have made pacts with two opposing forces of mana."

"Can you elaborate on that?" Regal asked. "What exactly does it mean for a mana flow to be severed?"

"Mana flows from the world in which the Summon Spirits sleep to the world in which the Summon Spirits are awake. This is the first time that Summon Spirits have simultaneously been awake in both worlds. Because of that, the mana connecting the two worlds has been eliminated."

"Does that mean that the two worlds have stopped competing for mana?" Lloyd inquired.

"We cannot be sure, but eventually, the worlds will separate."

"Let me see if I understand this." Lloyd said. "You're saying that if we awaken Tethe'alla's Summon Spirits, we'll save Sylvarant without Tethe'alla having to go into decline?"

"That is not certain, but the mana connecting the worlds will disappear and the worlds will separate."

"Thank you, Sheena." Presea said.

The ninja frowned. "What for?"

"Because of you…and Corrine…we now know what the seals do. They function as a link between the worlds."

Sheena smiled sadly. "Yeah…it's all thanks to Corrine."

After bandaging the few wounds that they had left unhealed, they exited the temple. Seeing an odd glimmer on the ground, Zelos limped towards it. He rolled the object in his hand, recognizing the bell that had always been around Corrine's neck.

"Sheena!" He called, knowing his voice would carry in the long, echoing halls. She turned back and he tossed it to her. "Figured you'd want that. As…I dunno, a memento or something."

She beamed, lighting up the room and he found that his ankle didn't hurt so much.

-/-/

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Lloyd demanded in a harsh whisper, trying hard not to wake everyone.

Zelos jerked his arm out of Lloyd's startlingly strong grip. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about your attitude. How can you act so damn cheerful when Sheena's grieving?"

Zelos crossed his arms. "This feels like déjà vu. Seriously. I've known Sheena a long time. If everyone's walking around eggshells around her, it'll only make her feel worse."

"But we can't exactly walk around like everything's fine."

Zelos snorted. "Of course not. But we have to remind her that life's going to keep going, whether she gets on the bandwagon or not."

Lloyd looked at Zelos as though he'd never seen him before. "…How much do you really care about Sheena?"

He'd evidently spent too much time with Raine; he'd picked up on her bluntness.

Zelos could see from the look on Lloyd's face that this was apparently going to be a serious conversation. He sighed. "Enough. I care about her enough."

"Enough to…?" Lloyd prodded.

"Just 'enough'!" The redhead snapped. Didn't Zelos get the right to actually know what was between Sheena and him before people started asking questions about it?

Lloyd held his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright. I'll leave it alone. G'night, Zelos."

-/-/-/

"So you've come. Like moths to the flame."

Lloyd swung around to look at Yuan. "Do you ever say _anything_ original?"

Zelos nodded. All the bad guys in the old films that he and Sheena would watch during the summer used to say much the same. "It's true. You hafta admit…that line is _seriously_ cliché."

Yuan arched a slender blue eyebrow and Zelos wondered if the man had ever seen a movie. Ever. "Very funny, but you're impudence ends here. Prepare to die."

As Lloyd and Zelos block the blow from Yuan's Swallow, they exchanged a look. Yet another cliché line.

Botta, Yuan's second-in-command, and Yuan would have, logically, worked very well together. Wouldn't you have to after years of fighting together? But Botta's movements were slow and choppy, but powerful, whereas Yuan's were rapid slices and flips, the designs on the blade of his Swallow distracting the eye.

Yuan had a hand to his wounded abdomen, looking at Lloyd through one visible eye, the other hidden behind his bangs. "To think that your Exsphere is actually evolving…"

Before Lloyd could question the man further, a rumbling shook the building. "What's happening?"

Regal was already astride a Rheaird. "Lloyd, now's our chance! Let's take them while we can."

Botta cast a quick First Aid, repairing any damage to Yuan's internal organs and patching the skin so that it was little more than a thin slice. "Sir, could a mana link have been broken?"

"It's possible. I want you to go and investigate the cause of this earthquake immediately." As Botta opened his mouth, Yuan continued, "And we need not worry about the Rheairds. Our little friend can give us their position at any time."

-/-/-/

"Lloyd! Stay away!" The swordsman froze, but not because she told him to, but rather because Colette had never told him to stay away before. "It's a trap!"

Sylvarant's Chosen was in a cage, whose curved bars glowed with magic. But she didn't make any attempts to leave the cage.

"You can have that worthless Chosen." Rodyle's nasal voice seemed fat too loud on the spit of floating rock that they were standing on. "I understand now why Lord Yggdrasill left her alone. A sinful Chosen is entirely useless for my Mana Cannon. She cannot save the world, can't merge with Martel. She even puts her friends in danger. Such a pathetic Chosen."

"Stop blaming Colette for things she did not do." Presea told him, ax already in hand.

Rodyle cackled. "It's time for dinner and it seems like my darling pets are going to feast tonight!" His image disappeared, nothing more than an illusion.

Two dragons, the same ones they'd seen take Colette away, were perched on outcroppings of rock.

Colette recognized the looks on her friends' faces. "Don't try and fight them! Run!"

On the small floating rock, they knew that there was a very small chance that they'd be able to escape from two dragons.

"Give me a break!' Zelos exclaimed. "I'll pass on dying, thanks. I'm no part of the food chain"

"I'm with you on that." Lloyd agreed. "All we have to do is kill them before they get to us." A low rumble shook the rock and a long dragon head snaked out from a hole on the side of the rock. "Another one? Are you serious? I thought dragons were supposed to be rare!"

The dragons disappeared when a glowing came from a Colette's cage.

"I can't move!" Sheena yelled from where she was standing across the rock.

Similar sentiments came from everyone.

"The mana from Colette's body is flowing out towards us." Genis reported, his elven sight seeing mana as clearly as humans saw colors. "It's caused by the magic circle beneath her."

"I can't get out of here." Colette said. "I'm chained to it. Maybe I am like Rodyle said, a 'pathetic Chosen'. How did I ever think I even had a chance of saving the world?"

"Don't say that." Presea told her firmly. "There is nothing wrong with you. What is wrong is this system that demands the sacrifice of a Chosen." Presea struggled to shuffle forward, swinging her ax heavily to break the magic circle.

The circle broken, Lloyd almost overbalanced as he ran forward, grabbing Colette's hand. "We have to get out of here. This thing is ready to blow!"

Colette's wings sprang out, letting her fly as fast as the others on their Rheairds. "Lloyd!" Raine called. "Presea is unconscious."

Lloyd crouched beside Raine, trying to find the source of the problem. "What's wrong with her?"

"It's most likely a reaction from the breaking of the magic circle. The mana must have backfired and it must have been an overload to her system. We certainly can't treat her here. Get her on the back of the Rheaird. I'll heal her when we're on stable ground."

Raine and Lloyd, with Presea riding in the back with him, found the others in a clearing in a small wood. "Is everyone alright?"

Sheena glanced around. "Looks like. How's Presea?"

"Give me a minute to make sure of what it is that's wrong with her."

"What did Rodyle want with Colette?" Regal asked.

"He said that he needed a Cruxis Crystal to control something called a Mana Cannon. But apparently, mine didn't want to work."

Sheena saw the panic flash lightning fast across Zelos' face and she knew that he was thinking of his sister, who had his Cruxis Crystal.

"The man we saved in Hima, Pietro, mentioned a Mana Cannon as well." Raine reminded them. Raine sat back on her heels. "I've made an outlet for the excess mana. Her body was too small to handle it and I believe her body is still recovering from the effects of the Exsphere's parasitism. She should be fine now."

Presea sat up weakly. "Colette, are you alright?"

"Yup. Thanks to you."

Presea's lips upturned into the first smile they'd seen on her face. Sheena half-expected for Zelos to comment on how girls were prettier when they smiled, but he was silent and a dagger was flipping over his knuckles.

Regal shifted his weight to his right leg. "She resembles her, just as I thought."

Sheena glanced at him. "Did you say something?"

"No, no. It was nothing. Just talking to myself."

"What do we do now?"

"What else?" Lloyd said. "We're going to separate the two worlds."

"So this is where I come in." Zeloss worry almost vanished for a moment at the confidence in Sheena's voice. "How about we start with Gnome, the Summon Spirit of Earth? His temple is supposed to be near here."

Genis raised a hand. "Can I vote for sleep first? I'm exhausted."

"I forgot that it was past your bedtime, brat." Zelos said without thinking. His mind was still on Seles.

Raine snatched the kendama from Genis before he fried Zelos.

-/-/

"Going somewhere?" Sheena asked, leaning a hip against a tree trunk.

Zelos was halfway on his Rheaird. Sighing, he slid off, running a frustrated hand through his hair. "Yes, actually. I _need_ to make sure Seles is alright. You know she's got my Cruxis Crystal and Rodyle might go after her next."

"No one knows that she has it outside of you, me, your staff and the people at the Abbey." Sheena reassured him.

"Logically, I know that. But right now, I don't feel like _being_ logical. I just need to see her and-" See his sister for the first time in what seemed like forever, talk to her and hear her voice. Had she grown? Had she fallen in love? Did she still like to play piano when she couldn't sleep?

Sheena sighed and smiled. "Go on. I'll cover for you."

Zelos blinked at her. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course. She's your sister." Even if Zelos didn't exactly have the greatest relationship with her, he still cared. Still wanted to be a part of her life. "You know where we're going to be. Just meet up with us on the way."

Zelos hugged her swiftly. "Thanks, darling."

-/-/

Regal's handcuffs' jingling in her ear were too loud for this early in the morning. "Sheena. I am sorry to disturb you, but did you happen to see Zelos during your watch?"

Sheena rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes. "Yeah. He said he was going to drop by Meltokio to go restock our gels since we're low after all the fights recently."

Regal blinked in surprise. "I see. And he decided this on his own?"

"It might have come up during our conversation before he went to bed, but yeah, the majority of the decision was his."

"I understand and I apologize for waking you. I was simply concerned about his being missing."

She smiled sleepily, already being called back into the land of dreams. "That's no problem, Regal. No problem at all."

-/-/

Zelos wondered why in the name of Martel the Earth Temple had to be so complicated. But thankfully, things echoed and he could hear Lloyd and Genis arguing from the entrance.

It didn't take him long to catch up by jogging. Sheena looked up at him when he slung an arm around her shoulders. "So what's the cover story?" Zelos asked quietly.

"You went to get us gels since we're running low and it was partially my idea because of a conversation before bed."

"Lovely. Simple and believable." He grinned sideways at her. "Especially since the nuns at the Abbey thought I looked just _so_ thin that I needed food and, hearing about my journey, decided that I needed gels as well."

"You took charity from nuns?"

"But you know that they're all naughty beneath that nice exterior." He winked at Sheena and she rolled her eyes. "Come on. I know you've heard the stories."

"Moving on…how's your sister?"

Sheena felt him shrug. "Same as before. But she's safe. It's all I can ask for, I guess."

"Maybe that is all you can ask for, but you deserve better from her."

Zelos smiled a little. "Coming from you, darling, that means a lot."


	6. On Traitors and Sisters

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Tales of Symphonia. My friend 'borrowed' it and has lost it…He has angered the sad panda.

**Author's Note:** Been listening to the Music and Lyrics CD. I'm in love with Pop! Goes My Heart. It's just too catchy. Chem's been killing me and technically, I'm supposed to be doing my Geometry homework, but this is more fun.

-/-/

_A friend accepts us as we are yet helps us to be what we should. ~Author Unknown_

_-/-/_

"So where's our next Summon Spirit?" Lloyd asked, breathing hard after his morning training. Sheena and Zelos switched off on training with him and sometimes Regal would join them as well, though he was usually doing his cool down by the time they all woke up.

"We've got Volt, Gnome," Sheena ticked off on her fingers. "I think the next closest one is Celsius at the Ice Temple. It's supposed to be near Flanoir."

"What's Flanoir like?"

"We actually weren't very far from it when we were at the Renegade Base. It's cold there year round, but the last few times I was there, it was kinda pretty in a way."

"Do you like snow, Sheena?"

"I don't prefer it, that's for sure. It's great every now and again, but personally, I think the people in Flanoir are insane to live there year round. Way too cold."

"It doesn't snow in Mizuho?"

"Not _snow_ snow." She explained as she accepted a cup of cocoa from Colette. "It's more like slush really, and frost everywhere. But not the kind of stuff you make snowmen out of. It snowed in Meltokio during the winter though."

Lloyd looked surprised at the mention of the capital. "You spent a winter in Meltokio?"

"Full of questions this morning, aren't you?"

"If it makes you mad—"

"No, no it doesn't. I was just making an observation." Sheena smiled, embarrassed a little. "Raine seems to have rubbed off on all of us, hasn't she? And to answer your question, yes I did. I spent the better part of four years in Meltokio when I was growing up."

"And that's where you met Zelos." Lloyd guessed.

"Right. Why do you ask?"

"No reason. Just kinda curious. Sometimes you guys seem really close and like you know each other really well and other times it's like you hate each other. I guess it's a little weird."

"Well, considering you've got your friendship with Colette and Genis to go off of, I suppose it is."

"Morning, darling. Bumpkin." Zelos greeted, taking Sheena's mug. She knew better than to resist and didn't protest when he took a sip of her cocoa. "You seemed to be having an intelligent conversation, which is more than I can say for the Professor this early in the morning and I was curious as to what it was about."

"Lloyd was just saying that we're both freaks."

"Oh is that all? That's okay then."

-/-/-/

"Now that I think about it…are you going to be okay? About Celsius." Sheena asked Zelos, wrapping herself in a scarf before getting onto her Rheaird. It would only get colder the higher they went.

"Don't have much of a choice in the matter, do I?"

"You could just say you've come down with exploding diarrhea. Always worked in school. No one ever wants to ask questions after that."

Zelos snorted a laugh. She had hung out far too many times with Kuchinawa if she was going for that excuse. "Yeah and hear a lecture from Raine? No thanks. It's fine, Sheena. I can live with it."

"That's not what I asked."

He watched her fold her bedroll, his head tilted. "You've changed."

"Huh?"

"You've changed since we met. You learned how to play the politics game, even if you didn't realize it." It made him a little sad to realize that this wasn't the same girl he'd always known.

She gave him an odd look as he climbed up behind her. There weren't enough Rheairds for them to get their own and it worked out well when going up as high as they did where temperatures would drop.

Celsius' temple was in the far reaches of the Flanoir continent and they were all wearing several layers of clothes to try and stay warm. Sheena rubbed her arms, trying to keep warm.

"Whose idea was it to come here?" She asked through gritted teeth.

Genis looked back at her, not looking the slightest bit cold. He and Raine nearly blended in with the snow with their pale hair and blue eyes, even if Genis' did have a touch more gray. "Technically, Lloyd's. Blame him."

"How are you not cold?" Sheena wondered aloud.

Genis shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm not really thinking about it."

"Then what are you thinking about?" His eyes strayed to Presea and Sheena made a knowing hum. "You like her, don't you?"

Genis' cheeks and ears went a dark pink. "That obvious?"

"It's been pretty obvious for a while, squirt."

"I'm pathetic, aren't I? She doesn't even know I like her like that."

"To be fair, she hasn't had emotions for years since she got that Exsphere on her and she still has the body of a child. Maybe her mind hasn't caught up yet either."

Genis kicked the snow in frustration. "Why is it that I have to go for _Presea_ of all girls? I don't have a chance with her!"

Sheena ruffled his hair. "I don't know what to tell you, kid. But if you want advice, try Zelos or Regal. They're probably better with these kinds of things." Sheena hesitated a little before continuing. "This might not be any of my business, but have you talked to Raine about this?"

Genis looked away. "I thought she'd laugh. Raine's not exactly the romantic type, ya know?"

Sheena had to agree. "Maybe not, but she is your sister. I don't think she'd laugh."

"And while that makes sense, I still won't be able to tell Raine. I know that much."

"Is Sheena seriously giving you romantic advice, brat?" Zelos asked, resting his arm on Sheena's shoulder.

"Is there something wrong with that?" She asked flatly.

"Darling, you're my best friend and I care about you," Even when being casual, he couldn't say what he wanted to. "But you haven't exactly dated a whole lot."

"I've dated plenty, thank you."

He arched his eyebrows. "Whatever you say, dear. But, even with your…_considerable_…dating knowledge, which one of us has the better experience?"

"Alright, alright. I can take a hint." Sheena threw her hands up in surrender, walking faster to catch up with Colette.

"Now, I may be a little dense in this area, but I think she might be a little annoyed with you." Genis told him.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, kid."

Zelos had never told Sheena that there had been guys interested in her before. They'd pulled him aside sometimes, asked him if she was available or if she was dating him. His answers were always, in order, no, and no, but that her boyfriend was the really jealous type, a huge guy. Zelos suspected sometimes that Sebastian had known, the man seemed to learn about everything in one way or another, but if he did know, Zelos was grateful to him for never saying anything to Sheena.

And as much as he might want to apologize to her for bringing her lack of dating experience up, it was cold and snowing and he was in a generally bad mood and he had never been good at apologies.

-/-/-/-/

"Celsius is such a cool beauty."

Raine shook her head at Zelos. "As long as it's a female body, it's good enough for you, is that it?"

"Got that right, Raine." Sheena said, slipping out of the sleeves of the jacket. They'd landed on the border of the Gaoracchia Forest and it was nice to be back in warm weather. "This guy is a walking libido."

Zelos frowned. "What exactly is that supposed to mean, Sheena?"

"Exactly what it sounds like." The look on her face made it so that there was no misinterpretation.

She was still mad at him for the dating comment. It was fair enough, he supposed, but she was rarely so subtle about her anger. Zelos smirked slowly. He could play this game just as well as, if not better, than Sheena. "So you're saying that I exude masculine sexiness?"

"You're a philanderer. What 'sexiness'?"

"Please stop, Sheena. You're making me blush." He said sarcastically, eyes hard as the land of ice and snow they'd just left behind.

"Stop arguing guys!" They both swung around to look at Genis. "Look at that cloud! There's a staggering amount of mana coming from it."

They all set off at a run, trying hard not to trip over roots and stumble over rocks as they went towards the cloud. They were in Ozette's city limits now and they ran into each other, having to hold onto shoulders and tree trunks so they wouldn't fall over.

"This is…horrible…" Presea breathed.

Flames had engulfed the tree town of Ozette, the smell of ash and char almost overpowering them.

"Look out!" Regal pushed Colette out of the way of a falling tree trunk.

"Thanks. I wonder what happened here?"

Lloyd jogged down the hill. "There's someone down there, guys!" He knelt down beside the person. "Hey, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"He's not responding, but he is breathing." Raine said. "Here, help me carry him. We'll go down the hill. The fires won't reach there since there's so much less to burn."

Halfway there, the boy awoke in spasms, gasping and coughing. Lloyd and Raine set him down on his feet, still half-carrying him as they stumbled down the incline. Raine handed him her canteen, the water still chilly from Flanoir.

"What happened here?" Lloyd asked him. He was a small boy, couldn't be more than eleven or twelve, with pale blonde hair and wide blue-green eyes.

"…I don't really know." His voice was soft and slightly on the high side. "Suddenly lightning fell from the sky and angels attacked the village."

"Angels?" Raine echoed.

"Well, they had wings. Those with wings are angels, aren't they?"

Lloyd cursed under his breath. "It must have been Cruxis!"

Regal looked at Presea. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but…this unsettling irritation…is this anger?"

"It's impressive that you were able to make it out." Zelos said. "Are you the only survivor? What's your name?"

Sheena shot him a look. His words had been almost rushed, something unlike him.

"My name's Mithos. I lived alone on the outskirts of the village, so…"

"Wait…"Genis said."Are you a half-elf?"

Mithos' aquamarine eyes grew even wider as he shook his head quickly. "I—no. No, I'm not."

"Relax." said Raine. "Can't you tell? We've got the same blood flowing through our veins as you do."

"You're half-elves as well? But…you're with humans." His eyes were darting between them all, reminding them strongly of a cornered rabbit.

"We're all friends here." Colette assured him.

"Humans and half-elves…friends? You're lying."

Genis shook his head, smiling. "It's true! My sister and I are a part of this group."

Seeing the hesitation and mistrust on Mithos' face, Regal said, "Your reaction is understandable. I've heard that Ozette is particularly known for its contempt of half-elves. If you've lived an isolated life here in this village, you must have suffered."

"What happened here?" Altessa's gravelly voice was even rougher from the smoke

"That seems to be the question of the day." Lloyd said as he turned towards the dwarf. "But why are you here? And Tabatha too!"

"I saw the lightning of judgment fall upon this village."

"It was the work of Cruxis angels." Presea informed him.

Altessa's eyes went to the ax-wielder. "Presea…you've regained your true self? But how could they…why could Cruxis…is this punishment for failing in the experiments?" Altessa shook his head, turning and leaving with his boots crunching on ash and gravel.

Tabatha stopped Lloyd from following after him. "My master believes that it is his fault that Ozette was destroyed. Excuse me; I am worried about the master."

"We should follow him." Lloyd glanced over to the blonde half-elf. "Mithos, since you don't really have anywhere else to go…you should come with us. And before you start, it doesn't matter that you're a half-elf. Besides, what would you do if the angels came back and you stayed here?"

"Lloyd's right." Genis agreed, holding a hand out to Mithos. "You should come with us."

Mithos stared at the hand as though he'd never quite seen one before, like it surprised him that someone would actually wish to be in contact with him. Tentatively, he took the hand, shaking it.

"I can…no longer return to my village. My home." Presea said sadly as they began walking, looking back up where a few of the last fires were beginning to go out.

Genis didn't meet her eyes. "I can't really tell you to cheer up, I guess. I don't have a place to go home to either. Lloyd and I were banished from our village, so I guess that means I understand a little of what you're going through. But I, uh, I have his feeling that if we do something about the state that the worlds are in, that there will be a whole new land just waiting for us."

Presea hmm'd. "Yes, I suppose that's true. It is a big world after all. You are a small person, Genis, but a wise one."

Watching her walk towards the front, perhaps a little eager to get to Altessa's, Genis was aware that Mithos' eyes were on him. "…You lived by yourself, didn't you, Mithos?"

"Yeah…that's right."

"If you don't mind my asking, where are your parents?"

Mithos looked away. "…They're dead. Both of them."

"Mine are too. They have been for a long time. I…can't really remember them, actually."

The blonde looked over at him. "We're kind of alike…aren't we? I mean, you were raised by your sister, weren't you?""

"Yeah, I was. Actually, she's been there for as long as I can remember. But you're right, we are a lot alike." Genis smiled. "I think we could make good friends."

"You wanna be friends? Really?" Mithos looked as though he'd never heard of such a thing.

"Of course! Come on, we're falling behind." Genis tugged on Mithos' hand as he jogged to catch up.

Altessa was seated on a large boulder, a hand over his face. "I was once a craftsman for Cruxis." He confessed.

Lloyd tensed. "So you're on the angels' side! On the side of Yggdrasill!"

"You know of Lord Yggdrasill?"

"Of course I do!" Lloyd doesn't think he'll ever be able to forget that too smooth voice or those terribly cold eyes. "Because of him, Sylvarant and Tethe'alla were twisted into fighting for each other's mana!"

Altessa sighed. "What happened to Ozette…was my fault. I came to hate the work I did. It was indirectly taking people's lives, so I ran from Cruxis and hid myself in Ozette. But the Desian, the one called Rodyle, he found me. He ordered me to create a Cruxis Crystal in exchange for my life."

"So the experiment carried out on Presea was ordered by Rodyle and the Pope who had you and Kate carry it out?"

"Correct. Rodyle was planning a revolt against Cruxis. Because I supported him, Lord Yggdrasill grew angry and he…he destroyed the town that had sheltered me!"

"So this is how Presea…the girl who reflects my distant memories…is connected to all of this. This is terrible beyond words." Regal said so quietly that Sheena, standing not a foot away from him, barely heard him.

"I am sorry." Altessa said. "I know that my apology can never be enough for what has happened, but it is all I can do."

"Don't waste your apologies." Presea said. "My time can never come back, nor will the lives of the people in the village and my daddy will never come back. Don't apologize. Even if you do, I can't forgive you. Not right now."

"Presea," Tabatha said as Altessa disappeared inside his house. "I know that your loss has been great, but please, do not lose yourself as well."

Everyone was surprised to hear Mithos speak up. "I can understand Presea's feelings. Some things…they can never come back. Even if someone apologizes, even if you want to forgive that person, you can't control those feelings."

"Perhaps not being forgiven is the punishment." Regal suggested.

Lloyd shook his head. "No, no I don't think that's right. I can't really explain it very well, but forgiving or not forgiving isn't a punishment."

"I don't think this is really the best time or place to get into a philosophical discussion." Zelos reminded them. "We need to rest and think about what it is we're going to do now."

"We could rest inside Altessa's house and take this opportunity to let him tell us all he knows about Cruxis." Raine proposed. "Right now, we don't have nearly enough information."

They were seated around Altessa's common room, most of them on the floor, though Zelos was leaning up against the wall. He couldn't handle sitting down right now.

"It's a long story." Altessa warned.

"We've got time." Sheena said, crossing her arms across her stomach. Her back was resting against the wall, legs stretched out.

"If you say so. Cruxis is an organization made up almost entirely of half-elves. A large number of dwarves are involved as well."

"There are dwarves besides you and my dad?" Lloyd asked, for this was the first he'd heard of it.

"Yes, indeed. But most of us have lived deep underneath the ground for centuries. Lord Yggdrasill has had most of us under his command for a long time. Through extortion and blackmail mostly, I'm sure, but some of them seem to genuinely believe in what he's doing. Yggdrasill wants to build an Age of Half-Elves and also wants to revive Martel. For that purpose, they control the Church and try to fuse the Chosen with Martel's consciousness."

"But then why do the Desians constantly try to kill the Chosen?" Genis asked.

"Exspheres and Cruxis Crystals are awakened and evolve with the owner's fear, suffering and their combat instincts. It's all needed to facilitate the angel transformation."

"In other words, the things people react to the most when in a state of panic." Raine said. "Our most base instincts, some would say."

"What is this Rodyle scheming? You said you were forced to support him?" Regal inquired.

"He wants to revive the Mana Cannon."

"Goddess, are all these Cruxis people about reviving things?" Sheena said exasperatedly.

"It seems so. Somehow, he obtained the plans to this Mana Cannon and is constructing it somewhere in Sylvarant. He is also the master of his own ranch. It's likely that he is using his captives in the cannon's construction. Unless I miss my guess, he plans to build his own empire once the Cannon is complete."

"So then, it's true that Yggdrasill built the two worlds?" Sheena wanted to make sure. She had worked in Mizuho's Intelligence Branch for a few years before going to Meltokio and she knew how faulty rumors could be.

"That is what I've heard. That he anchored both of the worlds so that they'd never come in contact via four mana links and placed the Great Seed in the center to guard it."

Lloyd frowned, looking at the Professor. "Great Seed…I've heard that before, haven't I?"

"It comes up in the stories of the hero, Mithos, right? It's what people have called the Soul of Mithos after he died on the Holy Ground of Kharlan after the close of the Ancient War." Mithos said.

"You're very well-versed in legends." Regal told him.

"I like to hear stories. I think they're interesting, learning about my namesake."

"While all that is true," Genis said, rising to his feet from where he'd been seated cross-legged by Lloyd and Colette. "There's still one thing I'm confused about."

"Just one thing?" Zelos quipped.

Genis ignored him. "Why does the same legend of Mithos exist in both Sylvarant and Tethe'alla? There are two Holy Grounds, two Towers of Salvation."

"I have heard that it is possible to travel between the worlds at their poles." Altessa said. "I've no idea where those poles would be, but perhaps the person known as Mithos travelled between the two worlds between the poles."

"Bipolar…yes, that's it."

"You look like you've had an epiphany, Professor." Zelos told her.

"This is the theory I've come to. Perhaps the Ancient War was in fact a war between Sylvarant and Tethe'alla and the hero Mithos arranged the truce ending that war."

"That explains the existence of the legend in both worlds."

"Right. And if we assume that one of the poles is the Holy Ground of Kharlan, that also explains why there's two Holy Grounds. That's the door between the two worlds."

"That makes sense logically. There have been many other bipolar theories, but yours makes the most sense." Regal explained. "One of the more common ones that I've heard is a legend passed down in Altamira about something called the Otherworldly Gate. That could also be a pole."

"But wait," Presea said, "I still don't quite understand what the Great Seed is."

Altessa said, "It's the seed of the Giant Kharlan Tree. I have heard Lord Yggdrasill say that it is more important than his own life."

"My head hurts. I can't take all this in right now." Lloyd said.

"I understand. Please, rest here for the night. Mithos…if you don't have anywhere else to go, why don't you stay here?"

"I'm a half-elf…"

"That's not a bother. The only ones who live here are Tabatha, who I made, and myself." Seeing the looks on everyone's faces, he elaborated. "Yes, Tabatha is an automated doll. Having a half-elf here won't be a bother at all."

-/-/

Someone was jostling him. Lloyd groaned, pushing the person away. "Lloyd, you have to wake up." Sheena said urgently. "Raine's gone."

Lloyd was awake instantly. "What are you talking about?"

"Raine left a note saying she had something she wanted to investigate and then she left. Tabatha said she saw a Rheaird heading south a little before dawn."

Zelos was awake and standing by the door, pulling on his shirt. "South…that's in the direction of Altamira. And she was acting strange yesterday, going on and on about the Otherworldy Gate."

"Let's go after her." Lloyd said, belting on his swords. He hadn't liked the subtly hostile silence between Zelos and Sheena lately, but that wasn't his priority right now. "We can't afford to be separated right now."

"Can I come with you?" Mithos said quietly from beside Zelos. "I know that it's dangerous, but I'm worried about her. This is the first time I've met another half-elf besides me, so…"

"When you put it like that…come on. We have to hurry."

-/-/

Altamira was very much a resort city, small stalls lining the streets and its hotel rivaling the heavens. People walked around in bathing suits and kids ran and played under the watchful eye of parents.

"Alicia?" Everyone turned to the voice. It was an elderly man with a rather thick mustache. "Is it really you?"

Presea's eyes widened. "You know Alicia?"

"Wait, then who…?"

"Alicia is my sister."

"Ah…I see. Alicia passed away quite a while ago. There's no possible way that she could be here now."

"She's…dead? Why?"

"Alicia came into the service of the noble Bryant family, but she was caught up in an unfortunate incident that resulted in her death. Forgive me, but I dare not speak of the details. Her grave is on the roof of the Lezareno Company Headquarters. Please, if you can, stop by. I'm sure Alicia would be pleased to receive a visit from her younger sister."

-/-/

"There's an Exsphere embedded in her grave." Lloyd observed.

A semi-transparent young woman hovered in front of the grave. Her pink hair, precisely the same shade as Presea's, was pulled back in curly pigtails. "Presea…sis…it really is you, isn't it?"

"Alicia!"

"You don't know how happy it makes me that I could see you again before I disappear."

"I don't understand what's happening…are you still alive somehow?"

"The only way I still exist is through the Exsphere. The Exsphere has already killed my body and swallowed my consciousness, but soon, even my consciousness will be gone."

Presea shook her head, not wanting to believe what was right in front of her. "How could you have become an Exsphere victim as well?"

"Presea, please, could you find Master Bryant for me? By killing me, he…" Alicia didn't get to finish her sentence, for she faded out of sight and hearing.

"Lloyd, please, help me find my sister's killer."

"Of course. We'll beat this guy to a pulp and drag him here." Lloyd promised. "But we have to find Raine first."

"Yes…naturally."

Mithos stayed behind, staring at the grave. "Exspheres…they're terrible things, aren't they?"

"Yes. Yes, they are."

Zelos looked at them from the elevator. "I just found out from the security guard…the Otherworldly Gate isn't far from here. Said it's to the east."

"Got it. Thanks, Zelos."

-/-/

The moon was high in the night sky when they finally found the Otherworldly Gate for even from the sky it was difficult to find.

"Why are you all here?" Raine looked surprised that they'd thought to follow her. She was standing in the center of tall, worn obelisks with ancient runes carved out at the bottom.

"Why do you _think_ we're here? We were worried about you, Raine!" Genis told her. All of the half-elves, with their pale hair colors, were easy to pick out in the darkness.

"This is a question that I've been wondering about since we found your note, Professor. Why did you come to this place?" Colette asked.

Raine turned away from them, not able to meet her little brother's eyes right at this moment. "…This is where Genis and I were abandoned. I happened to catch sight of this place ever since we went to rescue Colette and it's been on my mind. Then, when I heard about the story with the two worlds connecting at their poles, I became certain. The ruin that I've been searching for all this time…the image from my memory…is this place."

"So you're saying the two of you were born in Tethe'alla?" Sheena said.

"That can't be!" Genis protested. "All of my memories are from Iselia. I don't know this place at all."

"We were born and raised in the village of the elves, from which we were eventually ostracized. Since this place was known to be the pathway to the legendary Sylvarant, we were abandoned here."

"Isn't the village of the elves secret and off-limits to all those except elvenkind?" Mithos asked.

"Yes, although I don't know the details. The only thing I'm positive of is that I was left here with Genis when he was little more than a newborn. And we ended up in Sylvarant."

A new voice sliced through the darkness. It was male, rough, and slightly muffled. "Then this time, let me send you to hell instead!"

Sheena and Zelos both recognized the voice immediately. "Kuchinawa! What're you talking about?"

Zelos had a bad feeling twisting in his stomach, but he sincerely hoped he was wrong. A small group of Papal Knights marched up behind Kuchinawa.

"I'm talking about my chance to avenge my parents' deaths."

"Avenge your parents?"

"You know what happened to them, Sheena. They died along with countless others of our village when you failed to control Volt."

Even though he couldn't see it in the darkness, Zelos knew that Sheena would have paled at the reminder of what she'd done.

"That was an accident!" Lloyd said firmly. "Why would you do this now? It's been—what?—ten years?"

"Accident? I could have accepted it if she had just failed to make a pact with a Summon Spirit, but she also failed to assassinate Sylvarant's Chosen and she placed Mizuho in danger! But look at her now!" Kuchinawa made an angry gesture at Sheena. "She's making pacts with Summon Spirits left and right, like it's nothing!"

Colette steps up, her arms spread out from her body. "You have it all wrong!"

"Do I? You think I don't know her better than you all do? You, who have known her for a few scant months? You know something; I don't think she was actually trying during that first pact-making, killing my parents and our people!"

The bad feeling in Zelos' stomach was rapidly changing to anger at the accusations. Kuchinawa had never even hinted that he blamed Sheena for it all; not once in the almost three years he'd known the man.

"I did the best I could!" Sheena objected. Zelos had to give her credit for at least fighting it. There had been a time not so long ago that she wouldn't have.

"That's more than enough excuses from you!"

It was more difficult to see the Papal Knights in the dark, but they rapidly learned to watch for the glint of moonlight on their armor. Genis' fireballs and Raine's Proton spells lit up the night like a solar fire. In those brief flashes, Sheena could see that Zelos was slashing and hacking away at the Knights with a viciousness that she hadn't seen in him before.

They backed up towards the rune, all standing shoulder-to-shoulder. "Dammit," Zelos heard Lloyd curse somewhere to his left. "There's too many of them!"

"Kuchinawa!" Sheena took two steps forward. "Don't drag them into this! You only despise me, right? That means that I'm the only one you need to kill."

"Sheena," Lloyd said, firm and disapproving, "You need to stop talking like that."

"It's fine, Lloyd. Kuchinawa…please."

Before any of them could do anything more, there was a low humming and a soft white glow. The runes on the obelisks glowed with the same light as the moon. Zelos glanced back over his shoulder and saw a swirling purple vortex. He didn't know what it was, but he knew it was better than what could happen here.

"You've gotta be kidding me! Enough of this, Sheena!" Zelos grabbed Sheena's wrist, tighter than he usually would have because he knew that she would fight, and half-dragged her to the purple vortex.

Zelos rolled quickly while they fell so that he was on bottom when they landed. He grunted in pain as he hit the ground and once more when Sheena's weight landed on him. Sheena got to her feet quickly, but not before punching him painfully in the shoulder.

"Why in the name of the seven hells did you butt in like that?"

He stood up as well, angrily pawing the hair out of his face. "Don't start the lies, Sheena. Don't tell me that you wanted to die back there. You're a lot of things, Sheena, but you've never ever been suicidal. Or stupid, so I can't imagine why you even _began _to _believe_ him!"

Contrary to his words, Zelos did know why she'd believed him; it was Kuchinawa, someone she'd known since birth and Kuchinawa had jabbed at a sore spot.

"It's none of your business, _Chosen_." Zelos flinched visibly. It had been a long time since she'd called him that and never with such venom.

"Actually, it is. You're my best friend and you know what I've been told about best friends? That they don't let each other jump into a suicidal situation! And, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, _darling_, but Kuchinawa and those knights would have come after us regardless of whether or not you died since it was the Pope's orders and all that jazz."

Sheena's anger dimmed slightly as something was made clearer by his words. "Are you telling me that Kuchinawa was working with the Pope?"

"The guys we were fighting were his men after all." Zelos said, suddenly too tired to argue much more. He could hear the others coming down the path as, for some reason, they'd landed farther away from them.

Colette's brow was wrinkled with a frown. "Sheena, please…don't ever do that again. Don't make the same mistake I did and throw your life away. Nothing good can come of sacrificing your life."

Lloyd nodded, looking concernedly at the ninja. "She's absolutely right, Sheena. You should be _thanking_ Zelos."

Sheena glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "…Thanks, I guess."

Zelos tried for a playful smile. "Would it kill you to give me a kiss or two?"

Sheena's glance became a glare as fast as the speed of summer lightning. "Zelos…you're horrible."

She didn't hate him now, which was a plus. She never called him Zelos when she hated him.

-/-/-/

"Hey…" Sheena prodded Zelos in the shoulder. He rolled over to look up at her, surprised. He hadn't thought that she would willingly talk to him right now. "Walk with me a bit?"

He blinked, still trying to wake up and hoping he wasn't dreaming. "Sure…just let me get a shirt on."

The nights in Palmacosta were warmer than they usually were in Meltokio, but as he pushed the blankets off of him, the coolness gave him goose bumps. "What occasions the visit?" he asked as he pulled on the shirt. "I was under the impression that you weren't very happy with me."

Sheena had her arms crossed across her stomach as she leaned against the doorframe. "…I'm not."

Zelos glanced up at her as he tugged on his boots. "Where's the 'but'?"

He knew her too well. "_But_ I figured we needed to be civil again to each other eventually. Come on. Palmacosta's beautiful at night."

Sheena hadn't been lying. The moonlight made the ocean seem as though it were made of silver. Zelos wasn't accustomed to the smell of the ocean and found that he kind of liked the saltiness. There weren't many people out at this time of night either, unlike Meltokio.

"I'm sorry." It took them a moment before they realized the said it at the same time.

"Let me go first or I'll never get it out." Zelos said. "I'm sorry that I said that stuff about the dating. I know that it's not really a good subject with you and I shouldn't have brought it up if you didn't want me to."

Sheena looked across the water. "Zelos…you'd tell me if there'd been guys that liked me before…right? I mean, you'd know about things like that, wouldn't you?"

He couldn't meet her eyes. "'Course I would, darling."

"And…I _am_ grateful for what you did. You know that. I just…" Sheena sighed. "I can't believe that Kuchinawa would work for the Pope. It's not like him."

"I'm willing to bet that the Pope blackmailed him somehow." He wasn't really, but he wasn't sure that his best friend could take the news that a childhood friend could actually betray someone in cold blood.

"…It wasn't my fault…was it?" Sheena asked quietly.

"Darling, do you remember what you said to me after I got angry about Kratos betraying you?"

Sheena frowned. "Something about it being in the past?"

"Your exact words were 'what happened with Volt crippled me for years with summoning and making pacts and I won't let it happen again.'"

"You have as good a memory as ever."

Zelos ignored the comment. "I told you to remember that and repeat it back to me after you'd made a pact with him. So?"

"It's not the same thing as this."

"You're right. It's worse this time." Zelos sat on a low bridge wall, looking over his shoulder at her. "So?"

"You're serious."

He smiled a little. "Am I ever not?"

She snorted, leaning her knee against the wall. "Alright…I won't let something like what happened with Volt cripple me ever again."

"Good girl." Zelos praised. "So are you in the habit of breaking promises to yourself now?"

"It's harder than it sounds, ya know."

Zelos kicked his feet, heels bouncing on the wall. "Something worth doing never has any shortcuts."

"Where'd you get that?"

"Something Sebastian used to tell me when I was growing up. Now, what's with the moping? It's not like you and you've done it more on this journey than you have in the almost five years that I've known you."

"I didn't bring you out here so that you could cheer me up."

"Hey, I've been considering a job as court jester. Consider this training."

Sheena held up a hand to stop the tirade she knew was coming. "It's too late for this."

"Too early." Zelos corrected as the clock tower struck two.

"Just…leave me alone right now, Zelos. Please."

"Sure." Because she wasn't hating him and she'd willingly talked to him and hadn't yelled and this was so much closer to what they used to have than the anger that had been between them since Flanoir. "Just give me a reason."

"It's everything with Kuchinawa and…just…Goddess!" Sheena kicked the wall in a fit of anger. "I hate traitors more than anything else!"

"Oh dear, you've progressed to hysterics. Come on," Zelos said, standing and wrapping a soothing arm around her shoulders. "To bed with you, child."

She shrugged him off. "I meant what I said, Zelos. Leave me alone."

He held up his hands in innocence. "Alright. Fine. Just stop and think about who betrayed who first, okay?"

He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants, strolling away back to the inn. He wasn't happy about what he'd said and knew that it was just a little cruel in this situation, but this was why he'd sent Lloyd to talk to her before they'd gone to the Lightning Temple. He was the cold, hard truth guy. Lloyd was the warm, optimistic motivator.

Sheena was better off with Lloyd anyways.


	7. Heartaches

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Tales of Symphonia. My friend 'borrowed' it and has lost it…He has angered the sad panda.

**Author's Note:** Been playing Playstation half the morning and missing the boxy graphics.

-/-/

_Once a man has won a woman's love, the love is his forever. He can only lose the woman. ~Robert Brault_

_-/-/_

"The sea routes between Izlood and Palmacosta…I can't remember there being anything there." Genis said. "Can anyone else?"

Lloyd, Colette and Sheena shook their heads. "Professor?"

"Yes, actually. The Remote Island Human Ranch is in that area. And Neil did say that they were building something large on the ocean floor there."

"Could it be the Mana Cannon that Rodyle seems so interested in?" Regal suggested.

"My question is how he's building it." Zelos said. "It's underwater, isn't it? Do they have some kind of special technology?"

"I severely doubt it, Zelos." Raine answered. "Sylvarant doesn't have the resources—or if we do, we don't know where to find them—or the money to fund such a research project."

Zelos could believe that, especially since he'd heard about the washtubs.

They'd chosen to walk to the Palmacosta Human Ranch, just to make sure that it wasn't operational, after which they'd use their Rheairds to check out Rodyle's Ranch. Sylvarant was very different to Zelos in terms of the sharpness of shapes. Where everything in Tethe'alla was straight-edged and bold, Sylvarant was made of subtler, more natural shades. It was a much more down-to-earth place, something Zelos was beginning to appreciate.

It was still odd to not have people recognize him in the streets and the guards at the entrances to most cities didn't comment on the party's weapons (the few visible at least). They were apparently all ready to fight for whatever it was they had. As Zelos meets more people in Sylvarant and observes the way that they interact with each other, he thinks that perhaps it's no surprise that Sheena had found her strength here, that this was where she'd gotten her confidence back and honed her ferocity.

Genis was turning Mithos' panpipe over and over in his hands. A memento of his dead sister, Mithos had told him when he'd given it to him before they left. To play it when they were in danger.

"Is something wrong, Genis?" Regal asked him.

"I can't detect any magical properties about this flute. How could it help us if we were in danger?"

"Some things do not need to have magic to be powerful. You will find that that is the case with many things that have become close to people."

"And people themselves?"

Regal chuckled. The boy was certainly intelligent. Raine had told them that Genis had been able to attend the Palmacosta Academy and planned to after their journey was over. It was supposed to be the most prestigious school in Sylvarant, though Regal doubted that they had a better teacher than the Professor. "Especially with people."

"You look bothered, Zelos." Lloyd commented to the redhead.

"There's no casino, no bars and no girls. No one told me how tough a journey would be!"

"What's your point? The village I grew up in didn't have any of that stuff, but I had plenty of fun."

Zelos smiled wryly at him. "You're such a back-country bumpkin. You really think that kind of lifestyle suits me?"

"Not perfectly, but you don't fool around at places like that as much as you pretend you do." Zelos blinked at him, surprised. Lloyd continued, "After all, if you hated being on this journey that much, you'd have left already."

"You are sharper than you look, Lloyd. But, out of curiosity, what would you do if I decided to leave? Right now?"

Lloyd shrugged. "I can't stop you. It _is_ your decision, after all. But it would get a little lonelier around here if someone left, even if that someone was you."

Zelos doesn't reply to that, mostly because he's not sure he knows how to.

-/-/

"Renegades!"

"Neil and the others couldn't tell the difference between the Desians and the Renegades, so they thought the Ranch was back in operation."

Botta stood from where he'd been leaning against a piece of debris. The damage that Raine had done when she'd invoked the self-destruct mechanism was impressive. Some craters dipped into the ground and several lines of trees had been scorched and knocked down. "We've been waiting for you."

"So you were expecting us to come here?" Raine said. "That's rather odd."

"Does it really matter? We have a more important thing to discuss, like joining forces."

"Unbelievable." Raine said as she shook her head, brushing her silver bangs from her eyes. "You expect us to trust you after what you've tried to do to Lloyd and Colette?"

"Circumstances change." They whipped their heads around to look at Yuan, who'd come out from behind a large pile of debris. "Do any of you know of the Giant Kharlan Tree?"

"It's the legendary tree said to exist in the Holy Ground of Kharlan." Zelos said automatically, the answer having been ingrained in his mind from years of schooling and scriptures. "The tree of life that produces infinite mana."

"Before you all say it, because I know you will as you have such skeptics among you," Yuan looked pointedly at Raine and Regal. "The Giant Kharlan Tree isn't something out of children's tales. It existed, but the Kharlan War exhausted its mana, causing it to wither and die. The only thing left of it is its seed in the Holy Ground of Kharlan. It's known as the Great Seed."

"The Soul of Mithos?" Genis asked.

"Now _that_ is a fairy tale. The Great Seed is absolutely vital to reunite the two worlds."

"Reunite them?"

"I've told you this before, but Yggdrasill created the worlds. They were originally one world, but Yggdrasill ripped it asunder."

"How is that even possible?" Lloyd asked. "Ripping a world in two?"

"It was very possible for Yggdrasill. The two worlds manage to survive by competing for the small amount of mana that leaks from the Great Seed."

"And that's the reason for the cycle of a flourishing and a declining world and why the Chosen goes on the journey of regeneration." Colette realized.

"Very good. But if the Great Seed were to germinate, than the Giant Tree will be restored and that cycle ends. But the Great Seed is nearly dead. To save it, we have to expose it to an extraordinary amount of mana."

"There's no supply of mana great enough to do that in either of the worlds." Raine said.

"That's not quite correct." Yuan objected. "Cruxis' base, Derris-Kharlan, is a comet, made from a massive amount of mana. It lies suspended in the sky high above this land. We could simply use that."

"If that was the case," Lloyd said slowly, "Wouldn't Yggdrasill just use that mana to do it himself?"

"No. All he cares about is reviving Martel and that is where all of Derris-Kharlan's mana is being directed. Using the powers of a Cruxis Crystal, Martel lives on as a part of the Great Seed."

"If Martel awakens, the Great Seed will be absorbed into her, disappearing entirely." Botta said. "But the reverse also holds true. So to stop that from happening, Yggdrasill protects the Giant Seed with the seals of the Summon Spirits."

"So you want Martel to be a good little girl and disappear?" Zelos said from behind Sheena.

"Martel is already dead." Sheena frowned mentally. Had she just imagined it, or had Yuan's voice grown a little rougher, a little harsher? "Had it not been for Derris-Kharlan's mana, her soul would have disappeared long ago." Yuan cleared his throat a little and said, "Yggdrasill believes that there are no summoners left in the world. We can use this to our advantage."

"So that's why you want us to join you." Sheena said. "Because of me. Before we can do anything, we need to know what side you're on, Yuan. Are you with the Renegades or with Cruxis?"

"I am with Cruxis. But I am also the leader of the Renegades."

"So you're a double-agent." Still feeling a little stung by last night, Zelos glanced back at Sheena before continuing. "A traitor, in other words."

He ignored the fact that she clenched her fists at the comment.

"We'll join you, Yuan." Lloyd decided. "You are putting yourself on the line, after all, telling us that you're a traitor from the start. We were going to Rodyle's ranch. Do you have any information for us?"

"Yes, we do. The ranch and Mana Cannon systems should be interlinked. You should disable the control room. If you'd like, we can even guide you to the entrance."

"Why do you guys need to go to the ranch?" Sheena asked.

"We need to be able to fire mana at the Great Seed." Yuan explained. "There's work we need to get done in the mana reactor." Yuan turned to leave, but looked back at them, specifically Raine. "Ah, before I forget, you all seem to have destroyed every other ranch you've been to. Don't destroy this one."

Sheena smirked. "Hear that, Raine?"

"It's not as if I destroy them for fun." She said flatly and Sheena and Genis both shook their heads, smirks growing a little wider.

-/-/

"I know why you've come here." Rodyle was saying. "It wasn't particularly difficult to figure out. You want to shut down my Mana Cannon. But you won't succeed because I have filled the corridor leading to the Mana Cannon with sea water!"

"You would kill all those innocent people working on it just to stop us?" Lloyd's voice was a quiet kind of anger, something that didn't quite fit right with his personality. It sends shivers up Sheena's spine.

"They are inferior beings and therefore expendable. Once I get my hands on the Cruxis Crystal, then the Mana Cannon will be completed." Unthinkingly, Sheena's eyes darted to Zelos, who'd paled just a shade. His sister… "With that at my disposal, Yggdrasill and Cruxis will beg for mercy! But I finally have a Cruxis Crystal!"

Zelos' heart stopped at those words. Had they gotten to Seles? Was she alright? His eyes couldn't focus on what was happening as Rodyle equipped himself with the Cruxis Crystal. But a sudden firm warmth on his upper arm made him look at its source. Sheena's grip was tight enough so that it was just on this side of pain.

"It's not your Crystal he's got." Sheena whispered swiftly. "It doesn't look like anything like it." She'd managed to catch a glimpse of it in Rodyle's hand and it wasn't the warm orange-red color that she remembered from the year or so that she'd seen Zelos wear it before he'd given it to Seles. This Cruxis Crystal was a dark, violent purple.

The relief in his eyes was indescribable. But they were both distracted by the grotesque monster that the Cruxis Crystal had turned Rodyle into. They pushed each other out of the way as his tree trunk-sized arm slammed down between them. The monster was slow, but its attacks were almost overwhelmingly powerful. Zelos had to apply his small amount of healing magic to everyone as they didn't manage to avoid every hit.

The monster stumbled down the stairs of the control room, landing on one of the many pieces of machinery. "I refuse to die alone! I'm taking all of you with me!"

Raine recognized the alarm with its accompanying red warning lights. "He's activated the self-destruction! We have to stop it!"

"We won't be able to do it in time." Presea said. "The only one of us who can handle this machinery is Raine."

"Most Tethe'allans don't study the details of magitechnology very much." Though Zelos made a mental note to start to once things calmed down.

Botta and a small squad of Renegades burst through the doors. "We'll take care of this." Botta assured. "Escape through that hatch."

Just as they were outside, the hatch sealed behind them. They watched, horrified, as the water level inside the control center began to rise around the Renegades' calves.

"The hatch door won't budge!" Lloyd reported.

"Move!" Regal commanded as he charged at the observation window, kicking it powerfully.

"Botta did this on purpose." Raine realized. "He knew that the water was coming and locked it from the inside. If he hadn't the water would have flooded this area as well and there's a dome above us. No room for the water to escape."

"We've…stopped the self-destruct system." Botta's tired voice came over a loudspeaker.

"Botta!" Lloyd yelled. "Open the damn door! We can just destroy the dome-"

"Our goal was to modify each ranch's man reactor so that it would fire mana at the Great Seed. Now that we've finished reprogramming this control room, our mission is complete. We need you to get this message to Yuan: we have succeeded."

"Tell him yourself! Open the door!" Lloyd began hacking desperately at the observation window, to no avail. Botta watched calmly, eyes as dark and fathomless as the space between the stars.

"We pray for your success in regenerating the world. Please, see to it that Martel is allowed her eternal sleep, for Yuan's sake as well." A shield came over the window, forever blocking Botta and the Renegades from their sight as they died.

They could only stare at the shield, not wanting to imagine the death of their allies, but their minds betrayed them and did it anyways. Zelos automatically, numbly, began flipping a dagger, but it stuttered halfway through the roll and clattered to the ground.

"Everyone, turn around!" Presea warned. They did and they were staring into the faces of hungry-looking dragons. The same ones they'd seen with Rodyle the past two times they'd seen him.

They fought them—as if they had a choice—but, standing in pairs back-to-back, Sheena said everyone's thoughts aloud. "There are way too many of them. We don't stand a chance."

"But if we lose, Botta's message will never get passed on to Yuan." Colette reminded them.

Genis dug hastily through his pocket. "Mithos' flute!" He played a quick tune, not knowing what else to do with a panpipe.

Not a moment later, light rained down from the sky, breaking the dome and striking down the dragons. They all immediately look skyward and saw a golden bird soar over head.

"Was that a Summon Spirit, Sheena?" Genis asked.

"I-I've no idea. I didn't get a real good look at it."

"Raine! Genis! Everyone! Please, get on these Rheairds, quick!" Mithos guided several of the flying machines down into the dome.

They didn't question further as they climbed on and taking off with a hot burst of air.

"Mithos!" Genis grinned at his new friend. "I can't believe it! What was that attack just now? And how did you get your hands on the Rheairds?"

"I asked the Renegades to let me borrow a Rheaird."

"And the attack? It was so powerful…" Colette said.

"I don't have any better idea than you guys do. I heard the flute and I just, just wanted to get inside. So I began blasting the dome with fireballs. Then, all of a sudden, a golden sparkling bird appeared and helped me."

"A golden, sparkling bird?" Sheena repeated. She'd only ever heard of tone thing that could fit that description and it had been in the old scrolls she'd studied in Mizuho, long before she'd ever been sent to Meltokio as an ambassador. "Could it have been Aska?"

"It couldn't possibly…" Raine protested. "Why would a Summon Spirit want to help someone who isn't a summoner?"

"Could Genis have called Aska by playing the flute?" Lloyd suggested.

"Perhaps, but to know for sure, we'd have to investigate the flute itself further." Raine said, tilting her Rheaird towards the ground as she could see Palmacosta's port.

After they touched down, Genis got Mithos' attention. "I need to give you back your flute. Oh…no…Mithos, I am so, so sorry. I know how important it was to you."

Mithos stared wordlessly at the cracked and broken remains of the flute in Genis' palm. "…No, it's alright. The flute might be broken, but my memories of my sister are still intact."

"I could try and fix it." Lloyd offered.

"It's fine. It was very old. But thanks for offering."

"Does this flute have any special powers at all?" Raine questioned.

"Honestly, I don't know. I remember something that my sister told me once, though. It's supposed to be made from the nut of a tree that became extinct long ago."

"Hm. That doesn't do us much good right now, but we should keep it in mind just in case." Raine looked over at Lloyd. "Well? What's the plan?"

"We have to tell Yuan about Botta and ask him about the transfer between the worlds so we can get Mithos back to Tethe'alla."

-/-/

"I'm getting confused again." Lloyd confessed to Colette over dinner. "I said I didn't want any more victims, but I couldn't do anything but watch as people died right before my eyes."

"Well, I think you should do what you think is best."

"I don't think I know what the best is anymore."

"Well, I believe that Botta did what he thought was best. Even if it's painful, we have to do the right thing."

Lloyd poked his steak around his plate. "I suppose that's all we can do."

-/-/

"There's no real snowy places in Sylvarant…is there?" Zelos asked as they were climbing up the stairs before they diverged to their separate rooms. The air was still uneasy between them, but the anger was mostly gone.

"Like Flanoir you mean?" Sheena thought about it for a moment. "Now that you mention it, there really isn't. It snows in some places during the winter, but there's no version of Flanoir here."

"Then Sylvarant is a better place than Tethe'alla." Zelos declared.

Sheena looked over at him as she stopped at her door. "…You don't really mean that."

"Is that a question?"

"You know what it was." Sheena's smile was a little wistful. "I did the same thing, now that I think about it. Thought about what Sylvarant had that Tethe'alla didn't and I thought that Sylvarant was better. But it's like that choice that you told me, remember? In some philosophy class that you had to take? Whether you'd rather lose your eyesight or your hearing? It's an impossible choice."

Zelos leaned his shoulder against the wall, not quite meeting Sheena's eyes. "So…when we separate the worlds, where will you go?"

"Mizuho wants to move to Sylvarant."

Zelos shook his head. "Not what I asked, darling. Where will _you_ go?"

"I…I don't know." Sheena admitted. "It doesn't…feel right…to be stuck in only one world now that I know of Sylvarant, that I've spent time here. It would always feel like there's something missing."

_Like another half, like a best friend_.

Zelos nodded, pushing himself off the wall lightly. "I see. Good night, Sheena."

-/-/-/

Yuan's form of greeting as they entered his office was, "…You're back." He was seated in a chair surrounded by mountains of paperwork and he looked like he hadn't slept well.

"Yuan," Colette began, "Botta-"

"Is dead." The Renegade leader finished.

"Yeah. He asked us to tell you that he completed his mission."

"…I see. Then we'll activate the dimensional transfer system. You can travel between the worlds all you like."

"Is that all you have to say?" Lloyd demanded and Yuan looked at him like he'd seen a ghost. Lloyd resembled his father so much at times like this. "Botta gave his life for the Renegades and all you can say is 'I see'?"

"Lloyd!" Regal reprimanded. "This isn't our place to speak. He has been with Botta a long time. Nothing we say could make a difference."

As they turned to leave, Raine remembered and said to Yuan, "Our companion borrowed a Rheaird from you, so we'll return it now."

"One of our Rheairds?" Yuan asked perplexedly.

"Is something wrong?"

"…No. I'm sorry. I spaced out for a moment. We'll take it." After the door had shut behind them, Yuan said to himself, "But all of our Rheairds are in the hangar. What is going on…?"

-/-/

"I'll be praying for your good luck in avenging your sister." Mithos told Presea as they were dropping him off back at Altessa's.

"Avenging her sister?" Regal asked. He hadn't joined them when they went to Altamira, choosing to wait outside the gate. He had a strange aversion to the city.

"Is it really a topic we need to drag out right now? It's not that important." Zelos said, knowing he sounded like a terrible person, but he didn't want to hear about dead sisters and revenge. Not so soon after the scare of his sister being in danger or dead or worse because of his Cruxis Crystal. Because of his being the Chosen.

Genis glares daggers at him. Zelos ignores him. He was always good with daggers. "What are you talking about? Of course it's important! Presea's sister was killed!"

"Killed? What's going on?" Regal asks.

"Yes. We were told that Presea's sister worked under a noble named Bryant. But then Bryant…"

"He's a monster!" Sheena said angrily. "How does someone just kill a child?"

Regal's eyes widen and he looks back at Presea. "Sister? What was her name, Presea?"

Presea looks at him as though she's not sure why it matters now. "Her name was Alicia."

"…I see."

Lloyd rolled his eyes. What was it with people wanting to say that today? "Do you know something about this?"

"I might know who the murderer is. Please, take me to Altamira."

-/-/

They were on the roof of the Lezareno Company to see Alicia's grave once more when they heard a rough voice demanding, "Tell me the password to the inner area of the Toize Valley Mine!"

The old man with the mustache that had originally told them about Alicia was shaking his head. "I don't know anything about it, Vharley!"

Regal strode into the garden. "How about I tell you instead?"

Vharley smirked. "So the president himself decided to pay a visit."

"The route to the Toize Valley Mine opens by my voice print and cornea scan. If you were to force it open, I'd wager that the Exsphere mine area to collapse."

"If that's the case, Regal, you'll just have to come open it for us. If I don't get some more Exsphere soon, I'll be out of business."

"Rodyle is dead. There's no one left to unload huge numbers of Exspheres on."

"Are you idiotic, Regal? I don't need Rodyle when I have the Pope himself on my side. And there are plenty of people who'd love to get their hands on some Exspheres, what with all the monsters appearing and such."

Presea moved forward threateningly. "I cannot forgive you for killing an innocent person!"

A cloud of smoke had them squinting their eyes for a second before they recognized the man in red.

"Kuchinawa!" Sheena gasped. It was almost a physical pain to see her old friend-turned-traitor in the powerful Altamira sunlight. "What—don't tell me you're working with this guy too?"

Kuchinawa glanced at her. "It's none of your concern. Soon, the King will be dead and the Pope will be taking over."

He ran to Vharley in a movement almost too fast to see and another cloud of smoke enveloped them before they disappeared.

Regal went up to the old man, searching for injuries. "Are you all right, George?"

"Yes, Master Regal. Thank you. And if you don't mind my asking, what is it that you're doing here?"

"I've come to clear up a few things." Regal took a deep breath and turned to the group. "My name is Regal Bryant. I was granted the title of Duke by His Majesty and I am also the president of the Lezareno Company. Although," Regal looked at Zelos. "It would seem that you already know me."

"I'm pretty sure I saw you at one of the Princess' birthday parties." The parties had been little more than glorified dinners-and-a-show, but Zelos remembered it so well because it was the first of the Princess' parties that Sheena had gone to and she'd sat beside him, both making comments on the show under their breath.

"Oh yeah…" Zelos glanced at her. Did Sheena remember too? But Sheena was smiling lopsidedly at him. "I'd forgotten that this guy's actually a member of high society too."

"Then Alicia's killer, Bryant, was really…" Raine was putting the pieces together in her mind.

Colette shook her head. "No, it can't be Regal."

They stepped back as the Exsphere on Alicia's grave glowed, her ghostly self returning. A smile broke out on her face. "Master, I'm so happy to see you again before I disappear!"

"I'm so sorry, Alicia. Even after death, you still suffer."

"It's all right, Master. It was never your fault."

Feeling the confused stares of everyone, Regal elaborated, but never looked at them. "Alicia and I were in love."

George spoke up from the back. "Then I interfered, though I knew it wasn't my place, and forced them apart."

"Alicia was handed over to Vharley. He wanted to use her in an Exsphere experiment. It seems that they were attempting to create Cruxis Crystals, but the experiment failed…" A look of pain twisted Regal's features. "Alicia was turned into a monster….and begged me to kill her."

Alicia spoke then, her voice gentle and slightly hesitant. "Master Regal killed me to save me. It was the only way. Master, I'm so glad I got to see you in the end. I've no regrets now. So please, Regal, please stop punishing yourself. There's no need for those shackles. You've suffered enough."

Regal looked at the semi-transparent Alicia. "I took the life of the one I love. These handcuffs are the symbol of my crime as well as my punishment."

Lloyd finally spoke up, pain tightening his voice. "Genis and I once experienced the same thing you did. And I imagine it was just as painful…for my dad. When my mom turned into a monster and he struck her down, he must have also suffered."

"Your father did the same thing?" Regal said it as though he'd never been able to imagine someone doing something like that.

"That's what I've been told and I don't know if the decisions you or my dad made were correct, but I don't believe that my mom would have wanted my dad to punish himself and live the way you have."

"Yes," Alicia agreed. "It's just as he says. I cannot speak for anyone else, but I at least don't want you to live like that."

"…All right. But I vow to never use these hands as tools of death. And once we have destroyed those who use Exspheres to toy with people's lives, I shall remove these bonds as well."

"Thank you for that, Master. And Presea, I think I can finally rest in peace. Please, destroy the crystal before I'm completely absorbed into it."

"W-why?" It was the first time any of them had ever heard Presea stutter. "Can't you just stay like you are now?"

"If I was to stay like this, I would live on forever. An isolated consciousness, unable to even speak and existing for eternity. That would be a true hell…"

"Presea, Regal, you guys have to make the decision." Lloyd said. "What do you want to do?"

"Please," Regal asked, "Set her free."

"I agree. Goodbye, Alicia."

"Presea, all I can ask of you now is to please forgive Master Regal. Please." Alicia's voice was beginning to sound tired as she faded.

Lloyd drew his blade and shattered the Exsphere in one smooth movement.

Regal breathed deeply once more and they all pretended that his voice didn't sound a little shaky as he said, "I am sorry I never said anything about this until now. This is the reason why I am in shackles and why it is that I am a criminal. I confessed to killing her and went to prison of my own will. While I was in prison, the Pope promised to capture Vharley if I kidnapped Colette. I believed him and agreed."

"And that's why you were after us." Colette finished.

"Yes. I ask that you postpone my final judgment until we defeat Cruxis."

Lloyd smiled, though there was some effort behind it. "Of course. We'll work together to defeat them and save the Giant Tree."

Presea looked at Regal. Really looked at him. She saw the shadows behind the blue eyes, saw the tiredness in the few premature lines. "I will…try…not to think of you as my enemy. It will be difficult and I'm not sure I can change right away, but…it was Alicia's last request, so I won't say anything about it anymore."


	8. The World Ending and Trusting Enemies

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Tales of Symphonia. My friend 'borrowed' it and has lost it…He has angered the sad panda. Thankfully, he bought me a new one, so he's mostly forgiven.

**Author's Note**: Kratos appears again! I love writing him. He's such a fantastic character.

-/-/

_I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. ~HarperLee__**To Kill a Mockingbird**_

-/-/

"It seems the Summon Spirit of Darkness' influence is very strong." Raine said, though no one could quite tell precisely where she was in the thick blackness.

Sheena felt a hand creeping up her spine and she whipped around. "Zelos, that had seriously not be you."

"…What would you do to this Zelos character if it was?"

Sheena rolls her eyes. Though she had excellent night-vision, she could hardly see Zelos where she knew he was standing right in front of her, hand now very still on her hip. "He would know what would happen."

"Then this isn't him. This is Lord Ernesto von Schlongodorf."

Sheena shook her head, kicking Zelos lightly on the shin. He hadn't actually done anything, after all. "You can't do an accent to save your life."

"And I wasn't trying to grope you." Zelos tells her honestly. "I was trying to find somebody, but it's kind of hard to see right now."

"We definitely can't keep going like this." Regal said.

"We should check out the Imperial Research Academy." Sheena suggested. "They'd done research here before so they should have a way to light this darkness."

-/-/

It was still hurting their eyes to be in the light of day after the Temple of Darkness and Meltokio's bright colors certainly weren't helping.

"Kratos!"

Dear goddess, Zelos thought, was there any place the man _didn't_ show up?

But the swordsman walked to Presea. "I have heard that sacred wood grows only in the area near Ozette. Is that right?"

Presea blinked, though if it was because of the brightness or from surprise that Kratos was actually making it a point to talk to her, it was anyone's guess. "Yes, that's right."

"Does that mean that sacred wood no longer exists as Ozette has been destroyed?"

"The wood that I cut should still be in the church."

"So that's really all that's left…It seems I have no choice."

"Hold it, Kratos." Lloyd said, taking a step towards him. "Why is Cruxis worried about sacred wood? Aren't they more concerned with reviving Martel?"

"Because it's necessary. What other reason could there possibly be?" Zelos noticed that Kratos had never failed to answer any of their questions.

"Why's it necessary?"

"I feel no need to tell you of that now." And Kratos had to go break his own streak. "Also, Lloyd, the pacts you're currently making with the Summon Spirits…you must stop. It is dangerous to engage in activities which you cannot predict the outcome of. It might result in something you can't undo."

"What makes you think we'll stop just because you said so?" Zelos' mind had an answer for that one right away. Because Kratos had never given them bad advice in the past. For whatever reason, the angel had always tried to help them. "And what if there's no other way? To save both worlds, we'll do it."

"…Just be patient, Lloyd." Kratos' gaze flicked to each of them individually before he walked away without another word.

"Yes, because that wasn't cryptic at all." It had been Zelos' thought, but Sheena had said it.

"And here I was, thinking you'd never say a bad word against the man." Zelos said as they continued down the street towards the Research Academy.

"He's helped us before, but that doesn't exactly excuse him. He did betray us after all."

"And you're not thinking he could've just seen the light?"

"The guy's an angel. Goddess knows how long he's been alive. If he hasn't seen the light by now—"

"So Lloyd's optimism and determination to see good in everyone hasn't infected you all the way through yet. Glad to know you stand by your word." _I hate traitors more than anything else!_ Even if those words did burn, Zelos couldn't exactly make her take them back and he couldn't erase them from his mind.

-/-/

Katherine looked up as she saw the group entering the building. "Sheena! Chosen! What are you all doing here?"

"Hey, Kathy. We've actually got a bit of a favor to ask you. You know Shadow's temple? It's physically impossible for us to light it up on our own. Genis tried." The fireballs had nearly singed Lloyd's hair off.

"Well if that's the case, we finished developing something about a year back. We call it the blue candle."

Raine's eyes leapt to her hairline. "A blue candle is a holy candlestick that negates the darkness. Are you saying that you have that here?"

"Yes. It took a lot of work and lots of poring through ancient documents, but we were finally able to create it here in the lab. We haven't gotten a real good chance to test it against something like Shadow. All we've had are some blackouts around here."

Someone came up the stairs and recognized them. "We can't help them, Kathy."

"And why ever not?" The researcher asked, a hand on her hip.

"It's their fault that Kate was arrested."

"Kate?" Lloyd asked. "What happened to her?"

Kathy's gray eyes saddened. "Kate is going to be executed for harboring criminals and helping them escape." The entire research department knew that the companions were innocent, but no one would listen to half-elves and scientists.

"We have to save her." Colette told Lloyd.

"Hey, no argument from me. But how would we do it?"

"If we were to participate in the matches held at the Coliseum we could do it." Regal recommended. "It was originally constructed to watch fights between prisoners and wild beasts. There's a passage from inside the prison that allows prisoners to be taken into the Coliseum."

-/-/

Kate looked up, not quite believing who she saw outside her cell. She stood, joints cracking from having been in that position for so long. "What are you doing here?'

"It was our fault you got arrested." Lloyd explained. "We've come to save you."

"It's alright…really. I'm grateful and everything, but its fine."

"It's not fine! If something is the matter, we can discuss it once you're out of here." Lloyd said, picking the lock with little difficulty. It seemed as though he'd had to do lock-breaking now more than ever.

-/-/

"Well, what are you going to do now that you're free?" Regal asked. It was a question that interested him. He knew what was going to happen once he was free of the shackles. He had a company waiting for him. But Kate would never be allowed back in the Research Academy and that was the only life she'd ever known. "Have you any family you might go to?"

"No. My mother passed away years ago and my father…he isn't an option. But I do have a favor to ask of you. Could you take me to Ozette?"

"Ozette is in ruins now." Sheena said. "Are you sure you want to go there?"

"Yes, absolutely. That's where I was born."

-/-/

Kate didn't show any expression as she gazed upon the destruction. "Thank you for bringing me here, even though I was the one that experimented on Presea. It's not something I'm proud of, just so you know."

"We helped you because you did the same for us." Lloyd told her. "You helped us escape and you were about to be executed for it. We couldn't do anything but save you."

"I doubt you'd say that if you knew who I really was."

"Well who are you really?" Colette asked.

"My mother was an elf and my father…is a human and is currently the Pope of the Church of Martel."

"Your father…is the Pope?" Sheena asked, stunned.

"You're lucky you took after your mother." Zelos remarked. It was the first thing that came into his mind.

Sheena slapped his arm. "Don't say that!"

"It's true! He tried to have his own daughter executed! And he was the one who ruled that all half-elves who commit crimes are to be punished by death."

"What?" Genis exclaimed, gray-blue eyes flashing. "How could he do that when his own daughter is a half-elf?"

"Hey, don't be snapping at me. It's not my fault."

"I swear, the Pope'll pay for this."

"No!" Kate objected. "Don't—don't do anything bad to my father."

"He's done bad things to you!"

"That doesn't change the fact that he's my father." Sheena felt like she could understand Kate's reasoning on that. Like Kuchinawa. Like Kratos. Even though they'd betrayed them, Sheena couldn't find it in her heart to truly hate them. They'd been her friends once. She'd laughed and talked and shared secrets with them. "When my father ordered me to perform experiments to turn Exspheres into Cruxis Crystals, I was so happy. He finally needed me…"

Genis shook his head. "I don't—can't—understand that."

"Genis," Raine said, "Calm down."

Genis couldn't believe he was hearing this from Raine. While she'd always been the logical one, she was rarely this cold.

"I need to think by myself for a while." Kate said. "Think about my father and half-elves…Thank you all for saving me. And Presea…I'm sorry for doing all those things to you."

"Why do things always have to end up like this?" Colette asked. "So sadly."

"There are always going to be two opposing forces." Zelos replied. "Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, elves and humans, heaven and earth..."

"And those in the middle are sacrificed." Raine finished. "Half-elves, the Great Seed and the Chosen as well."

"It's wrong to say that someone can be sacrificed." Lloyd said. "It's not like anyone's lives have any more or less value than someone else's."

"But anytime there are two people, one will always be sacrificed by the establishment of superiority." Zelos argued. "It's the same way with countries and worlds. Equality…it's just an illusion."

Sheena leaned back on a tree stump, eyes focused on the ground. "Birth, status, appearance…you're engulfed by these sorts of things. It's always been like that."

"But everyone's got the same heart." Lloyd protested. "Everyone hurts when they're rejected. But people forget that."

"But people can change." Sheena said. "Even if it's only a little bit at a time."

Zelos glanced over at her. Oh yes, people changed. Sometimes not even by small margins, but by enormous leaps and bounds that left other people behind.

Lloyd nodded. "All we can do is believe in that and do what we can. And all we can do right now is to release the mana links."

"Yeah." Raine said. "Let's get the candle from the Research Academy so we can form the pact with Shadow."

"Since Shadow is the Spirit of Darkness, who's the Summon Spirit of Light?"

"Luna, mostly." Sheena replied. "But Aska shares part of the power. It's a little weird, but it might mean we'll have to hunt down Aska first. I want to know why Aska left the Tower of Mana in the first place."

"Well I don't think you'll be getting an answer anytime soon."

"Thanks for the support, guys."

-/-/

It's the night before they climb up the stairs of the Tower of Mana. Its silhouette is a light gray shape cut out of the night sky. Dinner was long since done and they were down by a small stream washing out the plates.

"We should think about what we're going to do now." Regal says. His job is to simply hold the plates as the handcuffs prevent him from doing much else. "We're all from Tethe'alla and we should decide in which world we're going to stay."

Presea didn't stop in her washing. "I…don't care, quite honestly. I'm alone in either world."

Sheena is careful to avoid Zelos' eyes, knowing full well that they were on her. "I…I think I'll be moving to Sylvarant with the people of Mizuho."

Zelos' heart is lead in his stomach. "Sylvarant is kind of…inconvenient, I'd say." Zelos catches Sheena's hand flinch as she hands the plate to Regal, causing her to nearly drop it. "But…I think Tethe'alla would be much more peaceful without me."

Sheena smiled a little. "I think all the husbands in Tethe'alla would breathe a sigh of relief."

"And all the hunnies would cry."

"That leaves me as the only one to stay attached to Tethe'alla." Regal said.

Sheena sat back on her heels. "I don't know about that. We've all got some sort of attachment to Tethe'alla and I don't think that's ever going to change. We should think carefully about this."

"Agreed."

-/-/

"Kratos, don't get in our way!" Lloyd warned.

"Just hear me out! The Derris-Kharlan core system has just finished calculating its answer. If you complete the pact with the Summon Spirit, all of the protection around the Great Seed will be lost."

"And that's precisely what we desire." Yuan's smooth voice cut in. A blast of lightning magic shot at Kratos, who dodged it with a practiced familiarity.

"Yuan, don't you understand? What you're hoping for will not happen."

"We would never pass up such an opportunity." Yuan said, electricity surging in the palm of his hand, keeping Kratos at bay. "Lloyd, I'll take care of him. Go and do what you came here to do."

Shoulders, arms and pillars were grabbed as they tried to stay steady as the Tower began rumbling and shaking. They stared down in horror as the spires of the tower began to crumble.

Without a word, they were all bolting for the stairs, trying not to trip. The monsters left them alone for they were running as well. In the crowd of teddy bears with glowing red eyes and floating scythes, Zelos somehow managed to keep a tight hold of Sheena's hand as they were jostled and pushed.

A large monster—Zelos didn't have time to see what it was—rammed him into a banister, pushing on a burn from Luna's light magic that made Zelos groan in agony. Sheena's hands were on his shoulders and pulling him down the stairs.

"Come on! Ignore it for now!" Sheena knew it was difficult to ignore a white-hot burn wound, but it was all she could ask of him right now.

They stumbled outside into the free air, not quite believing what they were seeing. Tree roots, enormous and sinuous as a winding river, were shooting out of the ground and the trunk was rising above them like some terrible omen. The tree was grotesque—its limbs contorted in some terrible agony. The roots clawed at the ground like a man drowning in quicksand. The sap of the tree flowed from gashes in the wood, but it was too dark to be sap, though none of them wished to get any closer to see what it truly was. At the very center of the trunk was a person trapped in a glowing green bubble.

"Is that…the Giant Kharlan Tree?" Genis asked, voice high with fear.

"I feel…as though I've met that person before. She reminds me of someone." Colette said.

"Martel…"Yuan breathed.

"Yuan, are you telling us that that woman, the one about to be consumed by the tree, is Martel?" Raine demanded.

"But…why would Martel reappear with the giant, grotesque tree?" Yuan asked as thought he hadn't heard her. One of them were sure whom the question was directed at.

"I was afraid this would happen." Kratos said. Sheena hated how he could still be so calm, just like before when he'd betrayed them. The man showed no emotion, even in the face of this terror? "Having lost the stability granted by the protection of the Summon Spirits, the Great Tree has gone out of control."

Yuan shook his head. "No. The purpose of the Summon Spirits was to isolate the Great Seed to prevent it from growing."

"That was only half of it." Kratos and Yuan shared another one of those wordless conversations and Zelos itched to know what history was between them. "The Great Seed anchors both worlds, preventing them from drifting into the void. Because of that, the Great Seed is constantly being pulled upon by both worlds as they try to separate from each other. It's a miracle that this delicate balance held for even this long."

"Hold on. You're saying that the mana links served as a cage to keep the Great Seed between the two worlds?" Yuan said.

"Exactly. And since you provided the already unstable Great Seed with mana, it germinated in this twisted form and has gone out of control." Kratos' voice grew a little gentler. "It has even consumed Martel."

"Okay, I don't really care why this happened." Lloyd declared. "I wanna know what's gonna happen if we don't stop it!"

"…If Kratos is right," Yuan began, "Then Sylvarant will be consumed and destroyed by the Great Seed. And since Tethe'alla is linked to Sylvarant by the Holy Ground of Kharlan and the Otherworldly Gate, it would be destroyed as well."

"That means…that everyone would die." Presea said.

Kratos nodded grimly. "Everyone but that twisted tree and the angels who live on Derris-Kharlan."  
"Yuan. How is it that you plan to rectify this situation?" Regal had been able to see the gears turning in the Renegade leader's head throughout the entire conversation.

"We can stop the mana flow and stop the seed from receiving any more."

"But that won't stop the Giant Tree." Kratos reminded him. "The process has already begun."

"Is the Giant Tree going crazy like that in Tethe'alla too?" Zelos asked. Sheena didn't doubt that, if that were true, that Zelos would hop onto his Rheaird and fly to his sister in a heartbeat.

"It's highly unlikely. But they should be feeling some effects like earthquakes. Because the Chosen activated the Summon Spirits in Sylvarant, this is where they are now active. Therefore, the Tree was drawn over here by Sylvarant's Summon Spirits."

"If that's the case," Lloyd asked, "Couldn't we just neutralize it by blasting it with the power of the opposing Summon Spirits?"

"Wow, Lloyd." Genis said. "You were actually keeping up and understanding that whole conversation?"

"Shut it, Genis! I remember that the Professor said once that the positive and negative ends of a magnet neutralize each other. Isn't this kind of the same thing?"

Raine couldn't help smiling a little. "That's not quite right Lloyd, but considering that the idea is coming from you, it's really quite clever."

"It's a good idea in theory, but how are we actually going to go about doing that?" Sheena asked. "There's no way to get even close to that crazy thing."

"…The Mana Cannon." Yuan suggested.

Kratos looked at the man. "So you're saying that we should feed the mana of Tethe'alla's Summon Spirits into the Mana Cannon and fire it at the Giant Tree? I suppose there's no better option." Kratos ran a quick hand through his already unruly auburn hair. When he spoke, it was with authority, though it was an authority he was putting on like an old, unused cloak kept in the back of the closet. "Alright, here's the plan. Yuan, I'm going to pretend I don't know who you've been working with or what you've been doing. In exchange, you have to order the Renegades to stop firing mana at the tree immediately. In the meantime, Lloyd's group will head for the Mana Cannon."

A Renegade dashed up to them. "Sir, that's not possible. Forcystus has executed out infiltration team at the Iselia ranch."

"In other words, we have to infiltrate that place right now and stop the flow." Zelos assumed.

"Then I'll go." Kratos volunteered.

"Are you saying we should send you, our enemy, to do this by yourself?" Regal asked.

"We could send some of my men." Yuan proposed.

"No." Kratos objected. "There are too many things that your Renegades need to doing—preparation of the Mana Cannon, the shutdown of the mana—and there are too few of them."

"Well we can't go." Sheena said. "We have to head for the Mana Cannon."

"Not all of us have to." Lloyd reminded her. "You and the Renegades take care of the Cannon. Kratos and the rest of us infiltrate the Iselia ranch and you guys fire the Mana Cannon when we give you the word."

"He's got a point, darling." Zelos admitted. "You wouldn't be able to trust it if the signal came from Kratos alone."

"We'll leave it to you." Yuan said. "Don't let us down."

-/-/

"…Why did you choose to bring me along?" Kratos asked. He wasn't necessary to this.

Lloyd looked back towards the man. "Because I don't trust Cruxis. This time though, it just so happens that your goals and our goals coincide. It's just easier to keep an eye on you if you're close by."

Kratos nodded in understanding. "A wise decision."

"But it is hard to believe we're fighting together with you like this again."

"You sound displeased."

"Of course I'm not happy about it. And I don't trust you at all."

"…Good. That's how it should be because we…are enemies."

-/-/

"All we need to do now is contact Sheena and—" Lloyd was cut off by a sudden blast of energy to his back.

"I am one of the Five Grand Cardinals. I won't die so easily." Forcystus said, a hand to his side as he tried to stop the bleeding of his wounds. "I am taking all of you inferior beings with me!"

"So," Kratos said, "This is how the great Desian hero, Forcystus, meets his end. I'm disappointed."

Forcystus' one eye focused on Kratos. "I see…I had wondered you know. How a mere human could exude the smell of mana. You're Kratos…Lord Yggdrasill trusted you….yet in the end, you betray us!" Forcystus' cannon was glowing again. "This is why humans can never be trusted!" the glow became a solid blow of magic and he shot it at Chocolat as she was standing with the other freed prisoners.

Without thinking, Colette leapt in the way. As Colette fell, wounded, a rage roared inside Lloyd as he stood up.

"No! You bastard!" He moved faster than he could ever remember moving before and stabbed his blade deep into Forcystus' torso. Ignoring the dying man as he slid his blade out and ran back to Colette, "Colette, are you alright?"

As he knelt beside her, he reflexively recoiled at the sight of her torn sleeve, exposing the skin beneath it. It was roughened with scales the color of sea glass. Even Kratos' eyes widened when she stood back up and everyone could see her arm.

Seeing the looks on everyone's faces, Colette flinched and shielded her arm from view with her hand and hair. "No, don't look! Don't look at me!"

"Lloyd, you have to send the message. Quickly." Lloyd sent Kratos a furious look. How could he worry about the message when Colette was…"The Chosen won't die yet, but if you don't hurry, this world will. Do it!"

-/-/

Sheena took a deep breath, searching for that deep reservoir of magic that the Summon Spirits resided in. There was the cold harshness of Celsius, "Disciple of everlasting ice," She began, and then there was the vibrating energy of Volt, "Hammer of godly thunder," Gnome's solid strength, "Servant of Mother Earth," And then there was that dark part, Shadow's part; the one of secrets, the one which, instead of inspiring fear, inspired comfort for the darkness was a ninja's realm. "Envoy from the dark abyss, I command thee. Gatherest before me and unleash thine power! Fire Mana Cannon!"

The tower that the Cannon resided in glowed with a brilliant white light before the light focused and shot straight at the enormous tree. A scream split the air and carried across the world before, for a long moment, all was silent.

"What was that cry?" Genis asked, searching the sky as though it would give him the answer.

Kratos was the one who replied, images of a soft smile and gentle eyes coming to mind. How he recognized the voice, even as distorted as it was by time and the tree. "Martel, I would assume. The Great Tree is Martel herself."

"The Great Seed is once again bound in the Holy Ground of Kharlan." Yuan's scratchy voice came over their communication machine. "For that, I owe you my gratitude. Thank you. It would seem that you've managed to save the Great Seed as well as this world."

Kratos kneeled by the machine. "I assume that, since the Great Seed is intact, then Martel, being fused with it, is safe as well?"

Yuan, halfway across the world, leaned on his desk, not looking at the machine as though Kratos' garnet eyes could see him. It was tempting—oh, how seductive the idea was!—to join Yggdrasill once more, to bring back Martel and be with her once again. But he remembered the pain, remembered the suffering written on all of the prisoners' faces, the emptiness of Derris-Kharlan; remembered Botta's sacrifice.

"I'm sure that's good news for you." Not great news because neither of them had ever wanted things to go this far. "I wish I could say the same for me."

Colette caught Lloyd's concerned gaze on her. "It's gross, isn't it? It's disgusting…isn't it?"

Lloyd shook his head, brushing her bangs from her face. "It's not at all."

Colette, for the first time in Lloyd's memory, flinched away from his touch. "Stay away! Don't look at me!"

She swayed on her feet and Lloyd was just barely able to catch her.

"She's alright." Raine assured him. "She's just fainted. We should return to the village."

Genis stared at his sister. "To Iselia? But Lloyd and I were banished."

"Colette's home is in Iselia. And we can't just leave all of the ranch's prisoners behind."

"Then I'll notify Sheena to join you in Iselia." Yuan said. There was a dim curiosity for wanting to see what had happened since all he'd heard was the conversation, but it is as dim as the world after twilight, as the shadows in the Gaorrachia Forest. "Farewell for now."


	9. Homecomings and Plots

**Disclaimer:** Don't own Tales of Symphonia. My friend 'borrowed' it and has lost it…He has angered the sad panda.

**Author's Note:** Been playing Playstation half the morning and missing the boxy graphics.

-~-~-~-~

_Once a man has won a woman's love, the love is his forever. He can only lose the woman. ~Robert Brault_

-~-~-~-~

"The sea routes between Izlood and Palmacosta…I can't remember there being anything there." Genis said. "Can anyone else?"

Lloyd, Colette and Sheena shook their heads. "Professor?"

"Yes, actually. The Remote Island Human Ranch is in that area. And Neil did say that they were building something large on the ocean floor there."

"Could it be the Mana Cannon that Rodyle seems so interested in?" Regal suggested.

"My question is how he's building it." Zelos said. "It's underwater, isn't it? Do they have some kidnd of special technology?"

"I severely doubt it, Zelos." Raine answered. "Sylvarant doesn't have the resources—or if we do, we don't know where to find them—or the money to fund such a research project."

Zelos could believe that, especially since he'd heard about the washtubs.

They'd chosen to walk to the Palmacosta Human Ranch, just to make sure that it wasn't operational, after which they'd use their Rheairds to check out Rodyle's Ranch.. Sylvarant was very different to Zelos in terms of the sharpness of shapes. Where everything in Tethe'alla was straight-edged and bold, Sylvarant was made of subtler, more natural shades. It was a much more down-to-earth place, something Zelos was beginning to appreciate. "

It was still odd to not have people recognize him in the streets and the guards at the entrances to most cities didn't comment on the party's weapons (the few visible at least). They were apparently all ready to fight for whatever it was they had. As Zelos meets more people in Sylvarant and observes the way that they interact with each other, he thinks that perhaps it's no surprise that Sheena had found her strength here, that this was where she'd gotten her confidence back and honed her ferocity.

Genis was turning Mithos' panpipe over and over in his hands. A memento of his dead sister, Mithos had told him when he'd given it to him before they left. To play it when they were in danger.

"Is something wrong, Genis?" Regal asked him.

"I can't detect any magical properties about this flute. How could it help us if we were in danger?"

"Some things do not need to have magic to be powerful. You will find that that is the case with many things that have become close to people."

"And people themselves?"

Regal chuckled. The boy was certainly intelligent. Raine had told them that Genis had been able to attend the Palmacosta Academy and planned to after their journey was over. It was supposed to be the most prestigious school in Sylvarant, though Regal doubted that they had a better teacher than the Professor. "Especially with people."

"You look bothered, Zelos." Lloyd told him.

"There's no casino, no bars and no girls. No one told me how tough a journey would be!"

"What's your point? The village I grew up in didn't have any of that stuff, but I had plenty of fun."

Zelos smiled wryly at him. "You're such a back-country bumpkin. You really think that kind of lifestyle suits me?"

"Not perfectly, but you don't fool around at places like that as much as you pretend you do." Zelos blinked at him, surprised. Lloyd continued, "After all, if you hated being on this journey that much, you'd have left already."

"You are sharper than you look, Lloyd. But, out of curiosity, what would you do if I decided to leave? Right now?"

Lloyd shrugged. "I can't stop you. It _is_ your decision, after all. But it would get a little lonelier around here if someone left, even if that someone was you."

Zelos doesn't reply to that, mostly because he's not sure he knows how to.

* * *

"Renegades!"

"Neil and the others couldn't tell the difference between the Desians and the Renegades, so they thought the Ranch was back in operation."

Botta stood from where he'd been leaning against a piece of debris. The damage that Raine had done when she'd invoked the self-destruct mechanism was impressive. Some craters dipped into the ground and several lines of trees had been scorched and knocked down. "We've been waiting for you."

"So you were expecting us to come here?" Raine said. "That's rather odd."

"Does it really matter? We have a more important thing to discuss, like joining forces."

"Unbelievable." Raine shook her head, brushing her silver bangs from her eyes. "You expect us to trust you after what you've tried to do to Lloyd and Colette?"  
"Circumstances change." They whipped their heads around to look at Yuan, who'd come out from behind a large pile of debris. "Do any of you know of the Giant Kharlan Tree?"

"It's the legendary tree said to exist in the Holy Ground of Kharlan." Zelos said automatically, the answer having been ingrained in his mind from years of schooling and scriptures. "The tree of life that produces infinite mana."

"Before you all say it, because I know you will as you have such skeptics among you," Yuan looked pointedly at Raine and Regal. "The Giant Kharlan Tree isn't something out of children's tales. It existed, but the Kharlan War exhausted its mana, causing it to wither and die. The only thing left of it is its seed in the Holy Ground of Kharlan. It's known as the Great Seed."

"The Soul of Mithos?" Genis asked.

"Now _that_ is a fairy tale. The Great Seed is absolutely vital to reunite the two worlds."

"Reunite them?"

"I've told you this before, but Yggdrasill created the worlds. They were originally one world, but Yggdrasill ripped it asunder."

"How is that even possible?" Lloyd asked. "Ripping a world in two?"

"It was very possible for Yggdrasill. The two worlds manage to survive by competing for the small amount of mana that leaks from the Great Seed."

"And that's the reason for the cycle of a flourishing and a declining world and why the Chosen goes on the journey of regeneration." Colette realized.  
"Very good. But if the Great Seed were to germinate, than the Giant Tree will be restored and that cycle ends. But the Great Seed is nearly dead. To save it, we have to expose it to an extraordinary amount of mana."

"There's no supply of mana great enough to do that in either of the worlds." Raine said.

"Not quite." Yuan objected. "Cruxis' base, Derris-Kharlan, is a comet, made from a massive amount of mana. It lies suspended in the sky high above this land. We could simply use that."

"If that was the case," Lloyd said slowly, "Wouldn't Yggdrasill just use that mana to do it himself?"

"No. All he cares about is reviving Martel and that is where all of Derris-Kharlan's mana is being directed. Using the powers of a Cruxis Crystal, Martel lives on as a part of the Great Seed."

"If Martel awakens, the Great Seed will be absorbed into her, disappearing entirely." Botta said. "But the reverse also holds true. So to stop that from happening, Yggdrasill protects the Giant Seed with the seals of the Summon Spirits."

"So you want Martel to be a good little girl and disappear?" Zelos said from behind Sheena.

"Martel is already dead." Sheena frowned mentally. Had she just imagined it, or had Yuan's voice grown a little rougher, a little harsher? "Had it not been for Derris-Kharlan's mana, her soul would have disappeared long ago." Yuan cleared his throat a little and said, "Yggdrasill believes that there are no summoners left in the world. We can use this to our advantage."

"So that's why you want us to join you." Sheena said. "Because of me. Before we can do anything, we need to know what side you're on, Yuan. Are you with the Renegades or with Cruxis?"

"I am with Cruxis. But I am also the leader of the Renegades."

"So you're a double-agent." Still feeling a little stung by last night, Zelos glanced back at Sheena before continuing. "A traitor, in other words."

He ignored the fact that she clenched her fists at the comment.

"We'll join you, Yuan." Lloyd decided. "You are putting yourself on the line, after all, telling us that you're a traitor from the start. We were going to Rodyle's ranch. Do you have any information for us?"

"Yes, we do. The ranch and Mana Cannon systems should be interlinked. You should disable the control room. If you'd like, we can even guide you to the entrance."

"Why do you guys need to go to the ranch?" Sheena asked.

"We need to be able to fire mana at the Great Seed." Yuan explained. "There's work we need to get done in the mana reactor." Yuan turned to leave, but looked back at them, specifically Raine. "Ah, before I forget, you all seem to have destroyed every other ranch you've been to. Don't destroy this one."

Sheena smirked. "Hear that, Raine?"

"It's not as if I destroy them for fun." She said flatly and Sheena and Genis both shook their heads, smirks growing a little wider.

* * *

"I know why you've come here." Rodyle was saying. "It wasn't particularly difficult to figure out. You want to shut down my Mana Cannon. But you won't succeed because I have filled the corridor leading to the Mana Cannon with sea water!"

"You would kill all those innocent people working on it just to stop us?" Lloyd's voice was a quiet kind of anger, something that didn't quite fit right with his personality. It sends shivers up Sheena's spine.

"They are inferior beings and therefore expendable. Once I get my hands on the Cruxis Crystal, then the Mana Cannon will be completed." Unthinkingly, Sheena's eyes darted to Zelos, who'd paled just a shade. His sister… "With that at my disposal, Yggdrasill and Cruxis will beg for mercy! But I finally have a Cruxis Crystal!"

Zelos' heart stopped at those words. Had they gotten to Seles? Was she alright? His eyes couldn't focus on what was happening as Rodyle equipped himself with the Cruxis Crystal. But a sudden firm warmth on his upper arm made him look at its source. Sheena's grip was tight enough so that it was just on this side of pain.

"It's not your Crystal he's got." Sheena whispered swiftly. "It doesn't look like anything like it." She'd managed to catch a glimpse of it in Rodyle's hand and it wasn't the warm orange-red color that she remembered from the year or so that she'd seen Zelos wear it before he'd given it to Seles. This Cruxis Crystal was a dark, violent purple.

The relief in his eyes was indescribable. But they were both distracted by the grotesque monster that the Cruxis Crystal had turned Rodyle into. They pushed each other out of the way as his tree trunk-sized arm slammed down between them. The monster was slow, but its attacks were almost overwhelmingly powerful. Zelos had to apply his small amount of healing magic to everyone as they didn't manage to avoid every hit.

The monster stumbled down the stairs of the control room, landing on one of the many pieces of machinery. "I refuse to die alone! I'm taking all of you with me!"

Raine recognized the alarm with its accompanying red warning lights. "He's activated the self-destruction! We have to stop it!"

"We won't be able to do it in time." Presea said. "The only one of us who can handle this machinery is Raine."

"Most Tethe'allans don't study the details of magitechnology very much." Though Zelos made a mental note to start to once things calmed down.

Botta and a small squad of Renegades burst through the doors. "We'll take care of this." Botta assured. "Escape through that hatch."

Just as they were outside, the hatch sealed behind them. They watched, horrified, as the water level inside the control center began to rise around the Renegades' calves.

"The hatch door won't budge!" Lloyd reported.

"Move!" Regal commanded as he charged at the observation window, kicking it powerfully.

"Botta did this on purpose." Raine realized. "He knew that the water was coming and locked it from the inside. If he hadn't the water would have flooded this area as well and there's a dome above us. No room for the water to escape."  
"We've…stopped the self-destruct system." Botta's tired voice came over a loudspeaker.

"Botta!" Lloyd yelled. "Open the damn door! We can just destroy the dome--"

"Our goal was to modify each ranch's man reactor so that it would fire mana at the Great Seed. Now that we've finished reprogramming this control room, our mission is complete. We need you to get this message to Yuan: we have succeeded."

"Tell him yourself! Open the door!" Lloyd began hacking desperately at the observation window, to no avail. Botta watched calmly, dark eyes as fathomless as the space between the stars.

"We pray for your success in regenerating the world. Please, see to it that Martel is allowed her eternal sleep, for Yuan's sake as well." A shield came over the window, forever blocking Botta and the Renegades from their sight as they died.

They could only stare at the shield, not wanting to imagine the death of their allies, but their minds betrayed them and did it anyways. Zelos automatically, numbly, began flipping a dagger, but it stuttered halfway through the roll and clattered to the ground.

"Everyone, turn around!" Presea warned. They did and they were staring into the faces of hungry-looking dragons. The same ones they'd seen with Rodyle the past two times they'd seen him.

They fought them—as if they had a choice—but, standing in pairs back-to-back, Sheena said everyone's thoughts aloud. "There are way too many of them. We don't stand a chance."

"But if we lose, Botta's message will never get passed on to Yuan." Colette reminded them.

Genis dug hastily through his pocket. "Mithos' flute!" He played a quick tune, not knowing what else to do with a panpipe.

Not a moment later, light rained down from the sky, breaking the dome and striking down the dragons. They all immediately look skyward and saw a golden bird soar over head.

"Was that a Summon Spirit, Sheena?" Genis asked.

"I-I've no idea. I didn't get a real good look at it."

"Raine! Genis! Everyone! Please, get on these Rheairds, quick!" Mithos guided several of the flying machines down into the dome.

They didn't question further as they climbed on and taking off with a hot burst of air.

"Mithos!" Genis grinned at his new friend. "I can't believe it! What was that attack just now? And how did you get your hands on the Rheairds?"  
"I asked the Renegades to let me borrow a Rheaird."

"And the attack? It was so powerful…" Colette said.

"I don't have any better idea than you guys do. I heard the flute and I just, just wanted to get inside. So I began blasting the dome with fireballs. Then, all of a sudden, a golden sparkling bird appeared and helped me."

"A golden, sparkling bird?" Sheena repeated. "Could it have been Aska?"

"It couldn't possibly…" Raine protested. "Why would a Summon Spirit want to help someone who isn't a summoner?"

"Could Genis have called Aska by playing the flute?" Lloyd suggested.

"Perhaps, but to know for sure, we'd have to investigate the flute itself further." Raine said, tilting her Rheaird towards the ground as she could see Palmacosta's port.

After they touched down, Genis got Mithos' attention. "I need to give you back your flute. Oh…no…Mithos, I am so, so sorry. I know how important it was to you."

Mithos stared wordlessly at the cracked and broken remains of the flute in Genis' palm. "…No, it's alright. The flute might be broken, but my memories of my sister are still intact."  
"I could try and fix it." Lloyd offered.

"It's fine. It was very old. But thanks for offering."

"Does this flute have any special powers at all?" Raine questioned.

"Honestly, I don't know. I remember something that my sister told me once, though. It's supposed to be made from the nut of a tree that became extinct long ago."

"Hm. That doesn't do us much good right now, but we should keep it in mind just in case." Raine looked over at Lloyd. "Well? What's the plan?"

"We have to tell Yuan about Botta and ask him about the transfer between the worlds so we can get Mithos back to Tethe'alla."

* * *

"I'm getting confused again." Lloyd confessed to Colette over dinner. "I said I didn't want any more victims, but I couldn't do anything but watch as people died right before my eyes."

"Well, I think you should do what you think is best."

"I don't think I know what the best is anymore."

"Well, I believe that Botta did what he thought was best. Even if it's painful, we have to do the right thing."

Lloyd poked his steak around his plate. "I suppose that's all we can do."

* * *

"There's no real snowy places in Sylvarant…is there?" Zelos asked as they were climbing up the stairs before they diverged to their separate rooms. The air was still uneasy between them, but the anger was mostly gone.

"Like Flanoir you mean?" Sheena thought about it for a moment. "Now that you mention it, there really isn't. It snows in some places during the winter, but there's no version of Flanoir here."

"Then Sylvarant is a better place than Tethe'alla." Zelos declared.

Sheena looked over at him as she stopped at her door. "…You don't really mean that."

"Is that a question?"

"You know what it was." Sheena's smile was a little wistful. "I did the same thing. Thought about what Sylvarant had that Tethe'alla didn't and I thought that Sylvarant was better. But it's like that choice that you told me, remember? In some philosophy class that you had to take? Whether you'd rather lose your eyesight or your hearing? It's an impossible choice."

Zelos leaned his shoulder against the wall, not quite meeting Sheena's eyes. "So…when we separate the worlds, where will you go?"  
"Mizuho wants to move to Sylvarant."

Zelos shook his head. "Not what I asked, darling. Where will _you_ go?"

"I…I don't know." Sheena admitted. "It doesn't…feel right…to be stuck in only one world now that I know of Sylvarant, that I've spent time here. It would always feel like there's something missing."

_Like another half, like a best friend_.

Zelos nodded, pushing himself off the wall lightly. "I see. Good night, Sheena."

* * *

Yuan's form of greeting as they entered his office was, "…You're back." He was seated in a chair surrounded by mountains of paperwork and he looked like he hadn't slept well.

"Yuan," Colette began, "Botta--"

"Is dead." The Renegade leader finished.

"Yeah. He asked us to tell you that he completed his mission."

"…I see. Then we'll activate the dimensional transfer system. You can travel between the worlds all you like."

"Is that all you have to say?!" Lloyd demanded and Yuan looked at him like he'd seen a ghost. "Botta gave his life for the Renegades and all you can say is 'I see'?!"

"Lloyd!" Regal reprimanded. "This isn't our place to speak. He has been with Botta a long time. Nothing we say could make a difference."

As they turned to leave, Raine remembered and said to Yuan, "Our companion borrowed a Rheaird from you, so we'll return it now."  
"One of our Rheairds?" Yuan asked perplexedly.

"Is something wrong?"

"…No. I'm sorry. I spaced out for a moment. We'll take it." After the door had shut behind them, Yuan said to himself, "But all of our Rheairds are in the hangar. What is going on…?"

* * *

"I'll be praying for your good luck in avenging your sister." Mithos told Presea as they were dropping him off back at Altessa's.

"Avenging her sister?" Regal asked. He hadn't joined them when they went to Altamira, choosing to wait outside the gate. He had a strange aversion to the city.

"Is it really a topic we need to drag out right now? It's not that important." Zelos said, knowing he sounded like a terrible person, but he didn't want to hear about dead sisters and revenge. Not so soon after the scare of his sister being in danger or dead or worse because of his Cruxis Crystal. Because of his being the Chosen.

Genis glares daggers at him. Zelos ignores him. He was always good with daggers. "What are you talking about? Of course it's important! Presea's sister was killed!"

"Killed? What's going on?" Regal asks.

"Yes. We were told that Presea's sister worked under a noble named Bryant. But then Bryant…"

"He's a monster!" Sheena said angrily. "How does someone just kill a child?"  
Regal's eyes widen and he looks back at Presea. "Sister?! What was her name, Presea?"

Presea looks at him as though she's not sure why it matters now. "Her name was Alicia."

"…I see."

Lloyd rolled his eyes. What was it with people wanting to say that today? "Do you know something about this?"

"I might know who the murderer is. Please, take me to Altamira."

* * *

They were on the roof of the Lezareno Company to see Alicia's grave once more when they heard a rough voice demanding, "Tell me the password to the inner area of the Toize Valley Mine!"

The old man with the mustache that had originally told them about Alicia was shaking his head. "I don't know anything about it, Vharley!"

Regal strode into the garden. "How about I tell you instead?"

Vharley smirked. "So the president himself decided to pay a visit."

"The route to the Toize Valley Mine opens by my voice print and cornea scan. If you were to force it open, I'd wager that the Exsphere mine area to collapse."

"If that's the case, Regal, you'll just have to come open it for us. If I don't get some more Exsphere soon, I'll be out of business."

"Rodyle is dead. There's no one left to unload huge numbers of Exspheres on."

"Are you idiotic, Regal? I don't need Rodyle when I have the Pope himself on my side. And there are plenty of people who'd love to get their hands on some Exspheres, what with all the monsters appearing and such."

Presea moved forward threateningly. "I cannot forgive you for killing an innocent person!"

A cloud of smoke had them squinting their eyes for a second before they recognized the man in red.

"Kuchinawa!" Sheena gasped. It was almost a physical pain to see her old friend-turned-traitor in the powerful Altamira sunlight. "What—don't tell me you're working with this guy too?"

Kuchinawa glanced at her. "It's none of your concern. Soon, the King will be dead and the Pope will be taking over."

He ran to Vharley in a movement almost too fast to see and another cloud of smoke enveloped them before they disappeared.

Regal went up to the old man, searching for injuries. "Are you all right, George?"

"Yes, Master Regal. Thank you. And if you don't mind my asking, what is it that you're doing here?"

"I've come to clear up a few things." Regal took a deep breath and turned to the group. "My name is Regal Bryant. I was granted the title of Duke by His Majesty and I am also the president of the Lezareno Company. Although," Regal looked at Zelos. "It would seem that you already know me."

"I'm pretty sure I saw you at one of the Princess' birthday parties." The parties had been little more than glorified dinners-and-a-show, but Zelos remembered it so well because it was the first of the Princess' parties that Sheena had gone to and she'd sat beside him, both making comments on the show under their breath.

"Oh yeah…" Zelos glanced at her. Did Sheena remember too? But Sheena was smiling lopsidedly at him. "I'd forgotten that this guy's actually a member of high society too."

"Then Alicia's killer, Bryant, was really…" Raine was putting the pieces together in her mind.

Colette shook her head. "No, it can't be Regal."

They stepped back as the Exsphere on Alicia's grave glowed, her ghostly self returning. A smile broke out on her face. "Master, I'm so happy to see you again before I disappear!"

"I'm so sorry, Alicia. Even after death, you still suffer."

"It's all right, Master. It was never your fault."

Feeling the confused stares of everyone, Regal elaborated, but never looked at them. "Alicia and I were in love."

George spoke up from the back. "Then I interfered, though I knew it wasn't my place, and forced them apart."

"Alicia was handed over to Vharley. He wanted to use her in an Exsphere experiment. It seems that they were attempting to create Cruxis Crystals, but the experiment failed…" A look of pain twisted Regal's features. "Alicia was turned into a monster….and begged me to kill her."

Alicia spoke then, her voice gentle and slightly hesitant. "Master Regal killed me to save me. It was the only way. Master, I'm so glad I got to see you in the end. I've no regrets now. So please, Regal, please stop punishing yourself. There's no need for those shackles. You've suffered enough."

Regal looked at the semi-transparent Alicia. "I took the life of the one I love. These handcuffs are the symbol of my crime as well as my punishment."

Lloyd finally spoke up, pain tightening his voice. "Genis and I once experienced the same thing you did. And I imagine it was just as painful…for my dad. When my mom turned into a monster and he struck her down, he must have also suffered."

"Your father did the same thing?!" Regal said it as though he'd never been able to imagine someone doing something like that.

"That's what I've been told and I don't know if the decisions you or my dad made were correct, but I don't believe that my mom would have wanted my dad to punish himself and live the way you have."

"Yes," Alicia agreed. "It's just as he says. I cannot speak for anyone else, but I at least don't want you to live like that."

"…All right. But I vow to never use these hands as tools of death. And once we have destroyed those who use Exspheres to toy with people's lives, I shall remove these bonds as well."

"Thank you for that, Master. And Presea, I think I can finally rest in peace. Please, destroy the crystal before I'm completely absorbed into it."

"W-why?" It was the first time any of them had ever heard Presea stutter. "Can't you just stay like you are now?"

"If I was to stay like this, I would live on forever. An isolated consciousness, unable to even speak and existing for eternity. That would be a true hell…"

"Presea, Regal, you guys have to make the decision." Lloyd said. "What do you want to do?"

"Please," Regal asked, "Set her free."

"I agree. Goodbye, Alicia."

"Presea, all I can ask of you now is to please forgive Master Regal. Please." Alicia's voice was beginning to sound tired as she faded.

Lloyd drew his blade and shattered the Exsphere in one smooth movement.

Regal breathed deeply once more and said, "I am sorry I never said anything about this until now. This is the reason why I am in shackles and why it is that I am a criminal. I confessed to killing her and went to prison of my own will. While I was in prison, the Pope promised to capture Vharley if I kidnapped Colette. I believed him and agreed."

"And that's why you were after us." Colette finished.

"Yes. I ask that you postpone my final judgment until we defeat Cruxis."

Lloyd smiled, though there was some effort behind it. "Of course. We'll work together to defeat them and save the Giant Tree."

Presea looked at Regal. Really looked at him. She saw the shadows behind the blue eyes, saw the tiredness in the few premature lines. "I will…try…not to think of you as my enemy. It will be difficult and I'm not sure I can change right away, but…it was Alicia's last request, so I won't say anything about it anymore."

95 


	10. Traitors, Sisters and Stories

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Tales of Symphonia. I'm a sad panda.

**Author's Note**: I forgot how much I truly hated the Gorge. I went to go see Guys and Dolls at my school and the drama team did a fantastic job, so congratulations to them.

-/-/

_~ Every betrayal contains a perfect moment, a coin stamped heads or tails with salvation on the other side. ~Barbara Kingsolver_

_-/-/_

"Kuchinawa!" The traitorous ninja looked over the paper at Sheena. He didn't know when she had become this powerful young woman, didn't know when she'd changed from the awkward stages of adolescence to an almost grace. "Why're you still getting in our way? The Pope is gone and Vharley's dead." Sheena frowned, reading the look in Kuchinawa's familiar coffee-colored eyes. "…This is about me, isn't it?"

"Of course it is! Because of you, my parents and countless villagers died! The Chief has yet to come out of a coma he went into ten years ago!" He watches the emotions play out on her face—that was something Sheena had never been able to do was a stoic face—and knew what was about to come from her lips. "And don't start apologizing because I shall never forgive you!"

Zelos leaned on one of the bookshelves, hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "Sheena, are we going to have to do this again?"

Her gaze flicked to him before returning to Kuchinawa. "No. If you truly hate me that much, then we'll have a one-on-one duel, as dictated by village custom."

"Do you honestly believe you can defeat me alone?" Sheena didn't make a movement to betray any doubt she may have had. The old Sheena would have. "Do you want to fight here and now?"

"No. It'll be customary and we'll fight on the Isle of Decision."

Lloyd looked a little uneasy in allowing Sheena to do it, but Zelos told him, "There's no use in telling her no, Lloyd."

As Kuchinawa turned to leave, Sheena called him back. "We need those documents."

"This is proof of your promise to fight."

Sheena shook her head. "No. If Colette doesn't get that, she may die." Half a second's hesitation and Sheena pulled something out of one of her many hidden pockets. Zelos just barely heard the slight tinkle and immediately knew what it was. "Take this instead."

Kuchinawa looked at what was in her hand, saw the small shining bell and recognized it from the small fox she'd shown him years ago, grinning brightly. How proud she'd been that she'd made a pact with it! "…And that is?"

She should have known he was going to make her say it. "Corrine's…memento."

"Fine, but know that if you don't show up, I'll grind that bell to dust."

-/-/

"Considerate of you, giving up Corrine's bell like that." Zelos said casually.

Sheena nearly jumped out of her skin. "Dammit, Zelos! You had better have a blindfold on!" She ducked lower into the water, not that it would matter very much. The moonlight only half-filtered through the trees, but the Exspheres enhanced all senses, including sight.

"On my honor, darling, I haven't peeked. Been staring at the sky since I got here."

"Which was when?" Sheena asked slipping soundlessly out of the water and grabbing one of the towels that the group shared. It covered her from shoulders to knees, just how she liked it.

"About…oh, three minutes ago."

"Hands over your eyes, Wilder." Sheena said threateningly and Zelos remembered exactly what Sheena had promised she'd do if he peeked at her again _(something Kuchinawa had told her, had taught her)_ and obeyed. "So what was so important that you couldn't wait five minutes for me to finish bathing?"

"Just a conversation that I didn't think you'd want the others hearing." Zelos was quiet for a heartbeat before he said, "I'm going to ask a question and I want an honest answer." Hearing the seriousness in his voice, Sheena tugged on her spare undershirt that she usually slept in and agreed. "Can you defeat Kuchinawa?"

Sheena sighed. She should have known. "I don't know."

"Well, I appreciate the honesty, if not the vagueness. You decent yet?"

"Yeah." Zelos let his hand fall away from his eyes and walked around the tree he'd been leaning on. Sheena was pulling her hair out of the back of her shirt. "Thanks for stopping Lloyd, by the way. He wouldn't have let me do this."

Zelos shrugged. "It's something you have to do."

She smiled at him, even if it was touched with the grimness of what she had to do. "Then thanks for understanding that."

It was as they were walking back to camp when Zelos said, "By the way, you've got great legs."

He ducked her slap and began running, Sheena on his heels. He had to hide behind Lloyd—like that was much cover—and Sheena had one hand on her hip, shaking her head before she burst out laughing.

-/-/

Orochi found them at the village gate. He met Sheena's eyes and asked, "What happened between you two? Kuchinawa was acting under Tiga's orders to act as liaison to the Research Academy in Meltokio."

"Tiga's angry I take it?" At Orochi's nod, Sheena said, "I'll go report to him."

"I'm coming too. He _is_ my brother."

Sheena looked back at the rest of them. "Lloyd, will you come to?" She asked. Zelos didn't mind that. He knew all the details already, after all.

Oroci sat perfectly still beside Sheena, listening to her explain it all and didn't want to believe that Kuchinawa had done the things he had. Not his little brother, the one who'd sat a few feet away while Orochi trained, promising to be stronger than him. Not the teenager that had wrestled with him at home in the evenings for the last piece of steak. And certainly not the young man who'd bowed before Tiga as he accepted his latest mission.

"He still bears a grudge from the tragedy with Volt…" Orochi had seen it, had seen it in his brother's eyes, but he had always thought that it was the anger that came naturally when one lost their parents. "You accepted this reasoning, Sheena?"

"To be honest…I believe that what Kuchinawa says is correct."

"That's ridiculous!" Sheena almost couldn't believe what Orochi was saying. Of all the people in the village, she had thought that Orochi would have been the one to most agree with his little brother. "If you went with that reasoning, half of the village would be at rights to duel you. What happened with Volt was an accident. There's no reason to hold a grudge."

Tiga nodded. "I agree with Orochi and I do not believe that the Chief would have allowed this duel."

"I made a promise that I would accept." Sheena said. Promises were an important thing in Mizuho—breaking them was breaking your honor.

"Kuchinawa has told me that he is going to leave the village regardless of the outcome of the duel." Tiga informed her. "Do you know the reason?"

"Only criminals leave the village." Orochi grabbed Sheena's shoulders, not painfully, but firmly. "Sheena, please, what has he done?"

Sheena shook her head and Tiga repeated the question to Lloyd. "…Kuchinawa was working with the Pope and tried to kill us many times." Sheena shot him a look and Lloyd had known when he'd said it that she wouldn't like it. But she had practically committed suicide that night that they returned to Sylvarant. That had been where Kuchinawa crossed the line. "The people of Mizuho have a right to know what he's done."

"…I can't believe he resented you so much that he was willing to shame the Azumi family name…" Orochi said quietly, looking straight at Sheena. It was one of the worst things to shame one's family.

"I understand the situation now…Orochi, prepare the boat." Tiga ordered.

"Yessir."

"Who shall be the observer?" asked Tiga. Both he and Orochi expected it to be the Chosen. He had known Sheena the longest out of her current group and there had never been any denying the odd connection between them.

But she surprised them all by saying, "Lloyd, will you do it?"

"Me? What's an observer?" No one answered him right away as Tiga drew Sheena off to the side, talking to her in a low voice. Lloyd, knowing it wasn't his place to stay, left the hut, stepping back into the strong sunshine. Zelos was sitting on the ground, back against the wall and looking up at the sky.

"You heard what was going on in there, then?" Lloyd asked.

"Only because I was eavesdropping." Zelos pretends not to be hurt from Sheena's choice of observer and though he could understand her choice, it still stung. She wasn't going to need his cold realism after the duel, but Lloyd's uplifting optimism.

"What's an observer? Do you know?"

"He just watches the fight and when one of the duelists admits defeat or dies, they confirm it."

"Makes sense. So what's your opinion on all this?" Lloyd asks, leaning his shoulder on the wall and shielding his eyes from the powerful sun.

"Truthfully? I think it's better to settle these sorts of things then letting them linger. It'll be good for Sheena, even if she doesn't believe it."

"You're always looking out for her." Lloyd said thoughtfully and—dare Zelos say it—a little admiringly. "She does the same for you."

Zelos glanced up at the dual swordsman. "I know she does. I…I don't know what I'd do without her." Why he's admitting this to Lloyd, he doesn't know, but perhaps it's because Lloyd has the same feeling Sheena does, the feeling of secrets staying secrets, though he'd been taught for years that a secret can be shared between two people, but only if one was dead.

But then, both Sheena and Lloyd excelled in breaking rules.

-/-/

Sheena supposed she shouldn't have been surprised when she and Lloyd came back to Mizuho to find Zelos underneath a tree, perfectly conspicuous with his coloring and positioning, with two mugs.

"Thought you might need this." Was all the explanation he gave when he handed her a mug. The strong smell told her her instincts had been right and it was coffee. He must have flown to Meltokio or Sybak while she'd fought Kuchinawa to get it, for Mizuho wasn't a village that sold much other than tea and water.

She grimaced after she took a sip. "It's cold." She said.

He motioned for the mug and placed his hands on it. With a word, his hands heated and the coffee steamed. Sheena smiled in gratitude. Where Zelos' spells would never be up to Genis' standards, he did have a much finer control over them.

"So how'd it go?"

Sheena didn't look at him, just took another sip before taking a deep breath. "He tried to commit suicide."

Zelos frowned. "Did he lose?" Not 'did you win?' because there's no way that Sheena can come out of this on top.

"Barely. I was lucky." He heard the tinkling of the bell and it only took a glance to find where it was tied to her waist. He could comment later on how not-ninja like that was. "…He said he didn't want to live with everyone's pity. He said that it's possible to live a life more painful than death."

"Did you give the speech or did Lloyd?"

"Most of it was Lloyd. I chimed in."

"Glad to know there's some sense in that pretty head of yours."

"…He said he might be able to forgive me one day."

That, Zelos found difficult to believe. But then, Lloyd and Sheena made compelling arguments. "What would it take to forgive you?"

"He said that he'll be able to forgive me when he's capable of thinking like Lloyd and I do. And, I suppose, you do." At his puzzled look, she explained, "You _did _stop me at the Otherworldly Gate." She hesitated and added, "The last things he said before he left was that he'd always be watching to see if what we said was true and to not betray him."

Zelos thought of a lot of things to say, many of which weren't helpful at all. He simply went with. "Stalker much?'

Sheena snorted into her coffee. She shook her head, smiling. The smile faded in the next moment. "I am sorry for not bringing you as the observer."

Zelos shrugged casually, taking a sip of his own coffee. "It's fine. I get why you did it."

"Doesn't make it right."

"In this case, it does. Lloyd is your friend too."

"But he's not my _best_ friend."

Zelos flashed a grin, his heart lifting with that simple statement. "Well of course not. Who beats the awesomeness of me?"

-/-/

"Someone needs to explain to me why the birds can't come down here instead of us goin' up there." Lloyd asked. Not that he had a problem with heights, but the bark of these trees was unyielding and pricked at the hands. Since he had the gloves, he was everyone's first choice to go up.

"Because the flowers are up there." Raine said. "Up you go."

"We'll be here all night if he climbs." Sheena said, holding her hand out to Lloyd for the Sorcerer's Ring. The humidity of the forest made her a little irritable at this time of month. "I'll do it."

Everyone's eyebrows winged upwards, the first mental picture that they got was of Sheena slipping from the tree branches. But Lloyd handed it over anyways. To their surprise, Sheena climbed the tree nimbly, balancing on the branch like she'd been born to it. She'd certainly been doing it long enough—since she was a child in Mizuho.

Just as she was going to activate the Ring, a shadow in the corner of her vision caught her eye. "Guys…giant pigs." She warned.

Groans came from everyone. They'd be eating pork for weeks with how many times they'd been attacked by the Ymir Forest's unnaturally large oinkers.

Lloyd boosted Genis up the tree so that there was more space on the wooden planks and so that he wasn't about to be sliced open by the boars' impressive set of tusks. It also gave him a great vantage point for his magic.

"We should sell fried pork." Genis suggested as he shot an Eruption down at them, careful to make sure their allies were out of range. "We'd make loads of money."

Sheena laughed as she flicked daggers down at the pigs, sometimes even throwing a seal down and letting it explode when stepped upon by the animals. "Do the elves eat meat 'cause I think it'll go bad soon."

Zelos heard them laughing in the tree and decided he was better off not knowing.

-/-/

"You again?" Zelos said when he saw Kratos waiting for them at the gates of Heimdall.

Kratos tilted his head, expression still inscrutable. "So you've made it all the way here."

"You _did _know how to cure Colette's illness!" Lloyd exclaimed.

"And if I did?"

"Why are you helping us and giving us these clues if you're with Cruxis? And how did you know that Colette's Angel Toxicosis is the same illness that one of Mithos' companions had?" Zelos was glad that someone had finally put the question to the man.

"Do you expect to accomplish something by asking me those questions?" At Lloyd's stammer, Kratos nodded as if expecting it and said, "There's little time left. Hurry."

As Kratos strode away, disappearing into the trees, Zelos muttered, "Cryptic son of a…"

Two elven guards scanned them all with sharp, eyes that were too old for their young faces. "No half-elves are permitted in the village. This is a defensive measure against those who brought catastrophe to our village." Lloyd bristled, preparing to object, but the elf cut him off. "If you cannot accept that, then the humans will not be permitted to pass either."

Raine backed up three steps, a hand on her brother's shoulder. "Lloyd, we'll wait here."

The Elder was a tall elf with hair the color of weak starlight and he carried a knotted staff. "The Mana Leaf Herb is an important plant used by us elves in our magic. We cannot simply tell anyone where it grows."

"Without that plant, a friend of ours will die." Lloyd explained. "She's sick with angel…uh…whatcha-call-it?"

"Chronic Angelic Crystallus Inofficium." Presea corrected.

The Elder's eyes widened so that it was easy to see the intelligent baby blue of his eyes. "That's Martel's…so that's why Kratos…"

"Did you just say Martel?" Sheena asked. "And what about Kratos? Why was he here?"

The Elder shook his head. "Never mind about Kratos. The Mana Leaf herb grows in the Latheon Gorge southeast of here. Show this staff to the watchman and they will let you pass."

"You knew about the plant monster guarding the Mana Leaf Herb, didn't you?" Lloyd asks the Storyteller, but there's no malice in his voice. Only curiosity.

"Yes, but if I had told you, your actions would not have changed. You seem to have a very strong will, all of you." His voice had lost the lilt that all elves seemed to have, roughened by age.

"Have you lived here for long?" Raine asked.

He nodded. "I am the one who passes on the lore of the elven village from one generation to the next. Here I weave various stories into the mana leaf cloth."

"What kinds of stories?" Presea asked.

"Legends of elves descending from the sky, the birth of humans…the rise and fall of the Balacruf Dynasty, the arrival of angels, the Giant Kharlan Tree, the Kharlan War and the story of the hero, Mithos."

"I thought the story of Mithos was taboo in Heimdall." Zelos said, leaning comfortably against the smooth—too smooth—walls of the Storyteller's hut.

"This is not Heimdall, young man. I live here to pass on the legends without being bound by the customs of Heimdall, where much prejudice censors many tales."

"Who was Mithos really?" Genis asked. "We hear his name everywhere, but it's as though we don't know him at all."

The Storyteller sighed. "This shall take a while. Please, take a seat and I shall brew some tea."

They obeyed, sitting around his small table and leaning on the kitchen counter. As he poured them the tea, he began. "Mithos was…born in Heimdall. He was an outsider, cast out of the village when the Kharlan War began." Sheena took a sip, accustomed to tea from growing up in Mizuho but never really liking it, found that this tea was deliciously spicy. She would have to get the recipe from the Storyteller after this because she was not climbing up here again. "He ended the Kharlan War with his three companions so that he could return to the village."

"By outsider…do you mean he was a half-elf?" Raine asked quietly, looking at the old elf over the rim of her cup.

"He was indeed a half-elf. Only one of his companions was human. The rest of them were half-elves. They were all treated as outcasts, but were able to overcome that and put an end to the war."

"Then why would his name be taboo?" Regal asked.

"It's because he was a half-elf!" Genis said hotly, fingers tightening on his cup.

The Storyteller shook his head. "No, that is incorrect. It is because the hero, Mithos, beloved by Origin, is also a fallen hero."

Everyone stared at the elf, but Lloyd was the one who voiced their thoughts. "A fallen hero? What are you talking about?"

"The ones who betrayed Origin and used the power of the magic sword given by Origin to split the world in two were none other than Mithos and his companions. Mithos Yggdrasill, his older sister Martel and their companions and close friends Yuan and Kratos. These four angels changed the very nature of the world and that is the reason why their names are taboo in Heimdall."

Lloyd couldn't make his mouth work right for a moment. "Yggdrasill, the leader of Cruxis…is the hero Mithos? And his companions were Martel, Yuan and Kratos? That's impossible!"

"Kratos is the companion of the hero from four thousand years ago?" Regal asked. "Even elves do not live that long."

"Please, allow me to explain. Angels can use special combat abilities developed during the Kharlan War. One of those abilities is to alter the angel's metabolism using the body's mana and stop the internal clock. That ability is what stops them from aging and living longer than any elf."

"I…do not think that it is right for one to exceed the lifespan of its species." Presea said. "But I still do not fully understand it all."

"Even if we don't, we know one thing for certain now." Zelos said. "Origin's power was involved in the splitting of the worlds. And the magic sword must be the key."

"We couldn't control the Giant Kharlan Tree, so I think that that option's out." Sheena put in her two cents. "But if we were to reunite the two worlds instead of separating them, it might work out better."

"That's a good idea…I like that." Lloyd said.

"It's no use thinking when you don't have any good ideas." Genis and Zelos told him in perfect, never-to-be-repeated unison.

"You guys are so mean."

The Storyteller watched the interactions, watched the play of emotions on the faces of these young people. The one in red—Lloyd, was it?—in particular reminded him very much of Kratos. It wasn't a glaringly obvious thing, but it was in the way he carried himself and the planes of his face. And the red-haired Chosen had certainly grown since the last time the Storyteller had seen him, when the boy was hardly more than a toddler and the Storyteller had needed to get several ingredients for magic in town.

The girl, the summoner from the myriad of mana residing in her, was clearly of Mizuho. Two half-elves as well and he recognized the elder one vaguely. She was similar, incredibly so, to Virginia. But there was a coldness to her that Virginia had never had, The younger half-elf looked as intelligent as his sister, but there was a fire there not common to elvenkind, who were so accustomed to living such long lives that many lost their passion along the way.

The other Chosen was a cool spring morning to Wilder's powerful summer's day. Gentle where he was fierce. And the man shackled by his choices standing beside the girl who time had left behind.  
None of them fit in either of the worlds. Not completely. They almost did, like a puzzle piece that is just a size too big or small for the space. Alone, none of them could function properly. The small woman-child of the pink hair was an example of this, as was the shackled man. The others…they'd all had someone. They made their own unique puzzle, one filled with dreams and sadness and questions and trust.

Sylvarant's Chosen was the one who, when they turned to leave, bowed and thanked him for telling them the story. The Storyteller thought that he might have to go get some more mana leaf himself to begin to weave a new story into cloth, the story of these remarkable people.

-/-/

"How are we supposed to get to Derris-Kharlan to get the Mana Fragment?" Genis asked.

"According to the scriptures, the Tower of Salvation is the entrance." Zelos remembered that page, remembered the hand-painted illustration of the Tower in the holy book. "But we'd need my Cruxis Crystal to get inside the one on this side. My sister is the one that has it right now. She's in the Abbey southeast of the Toize Mine."

Sheena caught his elbow as the others began walking down the trail. The Gorge was no place to take off, especially not with these winds. "You're trusting us a lot."

"You've done the same, if not more, for me." He reminds her.

"Why the sudden change of heart? You could've just gotten your Crystal during the night."

Zelos shrugged. "You guys have all trusted me with a bunch of stuff. Figured I'd return the favor."

Sheena searched his eyes, though for what, Zelos didn't know. She'd always been able to read him, despite the fact that no one else could (though Lloyd was giving Sheena a run for her money). Whatever she found seemed to satisfy her because Sheena released his elbow and followed the others down the gentle slope out of the Gorge.

-/-/

"You know someone was stalking me once." Sheena says it casually, but Zelos turns sharply to her. Why hadn't she ever brought it up before? "That stalker turned out to be Seles."

"I was under the impression you two hadn't met before."

"I wouldn't call that a meeting and I didn't find out who she was until I saw a picture of her at your house."

Zelos supposed that Sheena had a good reason for not saying anything, so he would wait patiently for the whole story. "Why was she stalking you?"

A playful arch of one of Sheena's feathery eyebrows. "Are you saying that I'm not worth stalking, Zelos Wilder?" He grinned in response. "The only thing your sister yelled at me was 'You evil witch! I'll teach you to seduce my brother!' Then she started attacking me. And I sent her packing, mind you, but she's a good fighter since you told me she was sickly."

"Well I couldn't just let her be out in the world and not know how to defend herself." He had a point. "And she must've thought that you were one of my hunnies." Catching Sheena's look, he added hastily, "Which you, of course, are not."

"How could she think something like that?"

Honesty, Zelos reminded himself. "…Because I told her so."

She stuck her leg out swiftly to trip him. "So that was all your fault." She offered him a hand up and he accepted it. The ground here shifted under their feet and he knew he'd probably only humiliate himself if he tried to do it on his own from his awkward landing position.

"It was a long time ago." Back before they'd been best friends and still been in that 'slightly closer than acquaintances' stage.

-/-/

Seles had, obviously, grown up from her photo in the Wilder mansion, but she was still only in the midst of her teens. Her hair was a paler shade of red than Zelos', but not quite pink like Presea's. Her dress was unusual in the sense that she'd perhaps made it herself from bits and pieces of various cloths, though it was expertly put together to look acceptable. Her wide-brimmed hat with its bright, geometric patterns reminded Sheena of something she'd find in the Triet marketplace.

Upon seeing them, Seles looked surprised. "Big bro—I mean, it's clear that the Chosen is his usual self, wandering around aimlessly."

"Yo, Seles, I need that Cruxis Crystal I left with you." Sheena took a deep, cleansing breath. She recognized this attitude. It was the one Zelos had worn the entire time she'd been in Sylvarant and it was the one he wore as a shield. Being this close to his sister, but her coldness at the sight of him, clearly hurt him. "Give it back to me."

"As you wish." Sheena remembered a line from a film she and Zelos had seen during those long Meltokio summers. That every time the farm boy said the words 'as you wish', he was actually saying 'I love you.' Sheena wished that that was true in this case. "It does, after all, rightfully belong to _the Chosen._ Now if your business here is done, I humbly request that you leave. Immediately._"_

Zelos' fingers twitched in an involuntary flinch. "Alright…I guess I'm as unpopular around here as ever."

"W-wait," Seles called as he was three steps from the door. Her hat had been pushed up a little, exposing the fine-boned face and bright baby blues that had a touch more gray in them than Zelos'.

"What is it, my darling little sister?" The words had an air of almost-sarcasm, but Sheena knew that he only ever called someone darling when he actually cared about them. Sheena wondered if there was any way she could explain that to Seles.

"…It's nothing." Zelos nodded at that, as if expecting it, and left the room without another word. "…Please take care."

Sheena flicked a glance at Seles. "He couldn't hear that."

"There was nothing to hear." She was apparently as skilled at ducking awkward conversations as Zelos was. "So it doesn't matter if my big brother couldn't hear it."

Genis smiled wide. "You called him big brother!"

"N-no I didn't. There's no _way_ I'd have a brother like _that_. Now please, leave."

Sheena was the last one down the stairs, wishing she'd recorded all of that so that Zelos could hear it for himself. He was waiting for her at the door. "So, what do you think? I'm well-loved around here, aren't I?"

Lloyd looked back at them. "She certainly wasn't very friendly."

As Sheena had suspected he might, Zelos immediately defended his sister. "Don't be too hard on her. She's been sickly ever since she was a kid. But despite that, her mother…Never mind."

"As you left, she said 'Please take care.'" Sheena waited until the others were out of earshot to say this. They might have already heard Seles say it, true, but she didn't know how Zelos would react to this.

"…Oh."

"What happened to your eloquence?" Sheena asked him.

"Well I honestly don't know how to respond to that." She'd caught him at a vulnerable moment if he was saying things like that while completely sober. "We need to hurry now anyway to the Tower."

-/-/

"That's a very disturbing laugh." Regal told Zelos after he'd opened the door to the Tower.

"Zelos, is something wrong?" Presea asked and Sheena knew that what had happened with Seles had really thrown him off-kilter if he'd let the people he was the most distant from in this group see it. "You've been acting even more…um…"

"Even more obnoxious than usual?" Sheena caught grateful Zelos' grateful glance. "Nah, he's always like this. Just ignore him." Their ignoring him would give Zelos a chance to put the off-kilter feelings in that box of Things Rather Not Thought About.

"Such a sad, ghastly place…"Presea murmured upon seeing the floating coffins.

"Wait a minute, is this really Tethe'alla?" Sheena asked, looking around for some sign that it was. "It looks identical to Sylvarant's Tower."

"I can't stop shaking." Colette said, her face a few shades paler as she looked around. "This _is_ the same place."

"Lloyd!" Raine called. "Do you remember this?"

They all jogged up, seeing the broken pillar that Yggdrasill had thrown Lloyd into when they'd fought him.

"The two worlds are connected here. Of course, it's the same place." Everyone turned to see Kratos dressed in whites and pale blues with more belts and straps than an outfit strictly needed.

"It's you again." Lloyd's voice held a low anger, one that sounded vaguely familiar to Sheena. "Who are you really? Are you really one of Mithos' companions from four thousand years ago?"

"…Good. Since you've already figured all of that out, it saves me the time it would take to explain it all. We will take the Chosen as the new body for Martel."

"Why are you still trying to do that? Are you so intent on resurrecting Martel that you're willing to distort the entire world in the process?" Sheena could see that Lloyd was trying, as they all were, to see some of the old Kratos in this man before them; the one that had traveled and fought with them.

"I feel no need to explain myself." Kratos drew his sword in one smooth motion. The very essence of fire itself seemed to be captured in the blade.

Lloyd didn't react. "So you really are our enemy in the end. I kept thinking and hoping that you might be good…but you're not!"

"I thought that that would have been obvious at this point." The gentle glow of Kratos' sword highlighted the red tints in his hair and eyes. Something about that made him, momentarily, look like a different person to Sheena. A younger person, one who had fought in a war he later helped stop.

"Don't hold back this time."

They ranged around the Tower, Sheena vaulting off of pillars and stairs to try and find a blind spot of Kratos'. They attempted to maneuver each other up and down steps, dodging blasts of magic and attempting to use every bit of uneven terrain against the other. But as Sheena ducked a slash, she noticed that even if she hadn't, that slash wouldn't have killed her. For certain, it would have been a bad wound, but with Raine as a Healer, there was no doubt that she'd live.

Kratos _was_ holding back, but substantially less so than before.

Angels, small ones with black feathered wings, appeared around them and they halted in their fighting immediately. "I would advise against resisting them." Kratos said. "There will be no mercy this time."

Another lie? Possibly. Were any of them willing to call Kratos' bluff? Not particularly.


	11. Jail, Fathers and Drugs

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Tales of Symphonia. I'm a sad panda. But I finally got my game back from my friend, so I'm a panda whose feeling pretty good.

**Author's Note**: Sorry for the last few chapters since, for some reason, my little section dividers in each chapter don't seem to be working. I don't know if that's the site's fault or mine, but I'm trying to find a way around it, so bear with me please and I apologize in advance for the sudden scene shifts.

But I do get to write one of my favorite scenes in the game with what was, for me, the biggest plot twist. I used a mix of the game and the manga to write it. Personally, I prefer the manga version, but both are excellent. I also think I slipped a little YuanXSheena in here by accident, but I am fond of that pairing, however weird it is. Unfortunately, no one writes it and it is a very difficult pairing to write.

-/-/-/-/-/

_It kills you to see your children grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didn't. ~Barbara Kingsolver,_ _**Animal Dreams**_

-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Everyone still alive?" Lloyd asked pitching his voice so that it could be heard by the girls in the next cell.

"I doubt they're going to kill us until after they finish Colette's treatment." Zelos said, leaning his forehead against the bars. This place gave him a headache. "She's apparently useless the way she is now."

"I think we were tricked." Genis declared. He looked much smaller and paler in this whiter than white cell. "It saved Kratos and them a whole lot of trouble by having us get the materials."

"Did Kratos betray us again?" Lloyd wasn't sure if he was asking his companions or just voicing his thoughts to the still air.

"…I feel guilty for letting this happen to Colette and the others." Regal said from where he was leaning on the back wall. "Though I suppose we should be glad we still have our lives."

"Y'know something," Lloyd said, "I wanna know why I keep being captured and stuck in jail. It's getting to be a bad habit of mine."

"Yes, because you have done nothing to warrant getting thrown in jail." Zelos was more than a little irritable. The headache was getting worse. Zelos found himself drifting into an almost-sleep, the kind that he used to drift off to in school a lot. Where his eyes were still open and he was still seeing everything, but his mind was entirely in sleep mode and nothing registered immediately.

It could have been a few minutes later or a few hours when he found himself back to full awareness by a scratching sound and Lloyd was muttering to himself quietly. Stretching and popping his back, Zelos asked, "So what're you tryin' to do?"

"Stupid door is built solid as a rock. I can't get it open."

"Same here." Sheena's voice floated. She sounded tired and frustrated. "The door and lock won't budge an inch."  
"Can any of the others break it?" Lloyd asked. All he got were negative replies. "So…we're completely trapped."

"…Move." Regal said, though tit was obvious that it was no less of a command. Zelos jerked to the side automatically. Regal stepped up to the bars and his hands glowed and a powerful beam of light shot from them.

They climbed out of the broken and bent bars and crossed over to the girls' cell. This time, with some of Genis' magic and Lloyd's skill at lock picking, they were able to break the lock's mechanism rather than destroy half of the cell.

"How'd you do that?" Lloyd asked Regal.

"I originally specialized in fighting with my hands, not my feet. And since Exspheres amplify the user's abilities far beyond their natural limits…"

"Why not just fight with your hands?" Zelos asked.

"I swore that I would never again use these hands as weapons ever again. The only reason I used it this time was because I was saving us."

They continued through what could only loosely be described as a city. It was mechanical, cold and far too distant. They froze at the sight of the angels floating in the air. Not one of them walked and their wing beats were soft. They were pretty, Zelos supposed, with doll-like features, wide eyes and triangular ears but in the way a marble statue was pretty. Their clothing was outdated, as though they belonged in museums.

"We'll be caught if we just walk around." Sheena said, peering around a corner.

"You're right." Rain agreed. "Colette, bring out your wings. We'll pretend to be your prisoners."

Colette's wings were a bright spots of color in the city and Raine's idea had been a good one. No one stopped to question them as they entered one building after another, searching for mana fragments..

"Fragments of mana are no longer being distributed." A guard angel told them robotically. "Please return to your area."

"These are the subjects needed for the Cruxis Crystal research." Raine told him, putting authority in her voice. "We require a fragment of mana."

"Please show me your identification."

A soft beep sounded behind them and Kratos' image was in one of the machines. "We need a fragment of mana for the ritual of the Chosen. I've sent a courier over to pick it up."

The group glanced at each other. "Yeah, that, that's us." Lloyd said, attempting to sound confident.

"Silence, human." Raine said coldly and Lloyd flinched on reflex from hearing that tone.

"While you're complaining about these little nitpicky details like identification," Lloyd continued, "You're keeping Yggdrasill waiting. Do you really want to tick him off?"

"A…all right." The angel flew up to one of the shelves before coming back down and handing them a small, semi-clear sliver of a glassy sort of material that shifted to different colors at different angles.

"This city doesn't feel right." Sheena said after they left, trying to rub some warmth back into her arms. "I just can't put my finger on what it is."

"There are many people here, but there is no feeling of daily life here." Regal told her. "That is most likely what you feel."

"Yeah…that sounds about right. Because look at them—they look alive, but they're dead inside. Like they're not thinking anything at all. And Cruxis wants this for everyone? This proves that what they're doing is just wrong!"

"This seems to be the city's main databank." Raine said, fingers tapping away at a machine. "Since we don't have the identification needed to use that teleporter, we'll just have to find their emergency exit."

"Is there any information on what they're doing?" Genis asked, standing on tiptoe to see the screen.

More tapping. "Derris-Kharlan is protected by a force field emitted by the Eternal Sword. "If the force field is removed, then Derris-Kharlan will be released from the planet's gravity. "Raine read. "The world was split in two to keep the mana depletion to a minimum and to sustain the world as well as the Great Tree. This keeps the world from prospering as prosperity leads to the production of magitechnology which leads to meaningless wars."

"That's seriously what they believe?" Lloyd asked.

"It's not as though there's no logic in it." Zelos pointed out. "Look at Tethe'alla and Sylvarant. Tethe'alla's been flourishing for a while and we've got loads of magitechnology."

"There's more." Raine told them. "The magic sword was given to the leader Yggdrasill when the pact with Origin was made. Its immense power is said to be able to control time and space. It is said that this sword is the reason for all of leader Yggdrasill's strength. The leader was able to split the world using its power. If this sword were to be lost, the power of the leader Yggdrasill's power would be diminished and Welgaia would face its doom as well."

"That was nicely laid out for us." Genis said. "And that's some pretty valuable information. I can't believe they just leave it lying around out here."

"Well the angels have been led to believe that Yggdrasill's way is the best way. They wouldn't dare use it against him."

"There they are!"

Everyone whirled around. A small troop of angels was after them. "Run for the emergency exit!"

It was harder than it should have been because, at odd intervals, the floor underneath them became semi-transparent like glass and they would immediately stutter in their steps out of instinct. They stumbled into the emergency teleporter, ducking magic being hurled at them.

"Y'know," Sheena began, "I am really starting to feel unwelcome here."

Zelos laughed a little breathlessly. His headache was still there, and it hadn't lessened any by his sort of-nap. But he thinks even a headache shouldn't be making the others float in the air like that…

"…What is…?" Zelos looked down and surely enough, he too was bobbing in the air.

Raine looked around, with a look on her face like she too couldn't quite believe what was happening. "So this is weightlessness." At everyone's quizzical looks, she explained, "When you're on the ground, Gnome's mana is what's known as gravity. His power is what makes things come down after they go up. But this place is so far from the ground that Gnome's power doesn't reach."

Lloyd looked over at Sheena. "But…don't you carry some of his power with you?"

"Yeah, but not enough to cause gravity! The majority of his power is still centered at his temple."

"You have to be careful." Raine warned. "Try not to move too fast because you won't stop until you hit something." She turned as she saw a blur of red and Zelos whoop of laughter that turned rapidly into a groan of pain. "Like that."

As they floated, trying not to hit anything as they maneuvered across the room, Lloyd looked down through the semi-transparent floor. "How high are we, I wonder?"

Sheena glanced over at him over a box. "Who knows? We are inside the Tower of Salvation after all."

"Well, I mean we can see the stars around us, so we have to be higher than the clouds."

"We've been higher than the clouds before." Colette reminded him. "On the Rheairds, remember?" But those times were fleeting since they found that the air was incredibly thin that high up. "But it's strange…usually I feel safe looking up at the stars, but now…"

"Relax, Colette." Lloyd smiled reassuringly at her. "Cruxis won't get you while we're here."

"Yeah, of course not."

"This is not normal." Zelos muttered, touching lightly down on the wall before carefully pushing himself off.

Sheena laughed; it sounded exotic in this odd, silent world. "Well, I certainly hope not." But she seemed to be catching onto it all with ease, moving through the weightless room as though she'd been born to it. "I'd be a little worried if it was normal for you."

Zelos caught himself on her shoulder, wavering in his balance a little. "Why is this so easy for you?"

"Oh, we had to do training that was a little like this back in Mizuho. You know, to be able to get around a room without disturbing anything or leaving any traces. It was a lot of really light steps and quick, small bursts of strength from your legs. Now that I think about it, it was actually a lot like this."

Zelos grinned at her. "So how many times did you fail at this training before you got it?"

Sheena glared playfully. "Enough times that Orochi finally stepped in and said he couldn't take the hilarity of it all anymore and helped me learn."

Zelos pulled himself through a doorway into the next weightless room, following Lloyd. To be perfectly honest, he couldn't understand why any normal person would want weightless rooms in their city, but then he remembers that they're dealing with emotionless, advanced half-elves with sociopathic tendencies and that's when it makes more sense.

"Sheena?" She twists to look at him. "Does, I mean does Mizuho still have the tradition of arranged marriages?"

The ninja tilted her head thoughtfully. "Now that I think about it, I don't know." She smiled apologetically. "It's been so long since I've spent more than a few days or weeks there that there's been no time to really discuss it. Why?"

"…No reason." Zelos knows Orochi, could call him a friend, if not a particularly close one. The man was more than an acquaintance certainly. It's because of this that he knows that Orochi is an honorable person, a good, strong man with some standing in Mizuho. And he honestly cared for Sheena's wellbeing, so he would be a natural choice for her. A better choice than a flirty, realistic Chosen who never took anything seriously. Not until he met Sheena Fujibayashi at least.

-/--/-/-/-/-/---//--///

"This is the sword Yggdrasill struck me with." Lloyd said, staring at the violet blade.

"Could this be the Eternal Sword that we've heard about?" Raine came up behind him, studying it.

"That can't possibly be it." Zelos says. "No one would leave a sword that important in a place like this." Though logically, how many people could get into the Tower anyway?

"We can take it to Heimdall and show it to the Elder." Lloyd suggested and he made to take the hilt when a disturbingly smooth voice cut in.

'You have not the right." Lloyd was shocked away from the sword, hands burning even beneath the gloves. "A waste of effort."

They all looked up at the voice they'd heard only once before. Yggdrasill was hovering feet above the Eternal Sword, as lovely as the angels in the holy books had been painted as, save for the icy blankness in his aquamarine eyes.

"The Eternal Sword cannot be touched by those who lack the right." Yggdrasill said.

"He must be talking about the pact with Origin!" Sheena realized. "That's the very sword Yggdrasill tricked Origin into giving him!"

Yggdrasill chuckled, the sound like velvet across the skin. "Intelligent, aren't you? Yet altogether such a pathetic bunch. But then, I suppose it matters not. Origin is under Kratos' seal. Either way, it is impossible for you to wield that sword. Without the power of the Eternal Sword, you cannot reunite the worlds. So all that you have done, this entire journey, has been in vain."

"You're the one that's making futile attempts to bring back the dead!" Lloyd shot back and Yggdrasill's eyes slid over to him. He did indeed see the resemblance in the facial structure and the angry set of the shoulders. "What does splitting the world in two even have to do with that?!"

"The worlds still exist because they were separated into two." The angel said this as he would to a small child.

Lloyd shook his head. "It's because they're split into two that there's not enough mana and countless people are suffering!"

"I know this might be difficult for you, but please, think for a moment. Why is there a shortage of mana?" The aquamarine gaze shifted to Genis. "What do you think, my fellow kinsman?"

"….Because the development of magitechnology resulted in large losses of mana?"

"Yes. And that magitechnology led to a great war. War consumes an abhorrent amount of mana. Even if the Great Tree were to be revived, another war would just make it wither and die. Wars are caused by two opposing forces. That is why I split the world in two: to isolate the powers that caused that foolish Kharlan War." Even if Sheena didn't want to, she could see remembered horrors written in those blue-green eyes and she had to remember that this man had lived through a war, a terrible one. Wars changed people.

"Because they alternate between prosperity and poverty, the development of magitechnology is subdued." Raine thought out loud.

"Very true. But Tethe'alla has prospered too long."

Lloyd raised his chin defiantly. "You're lying! You're willing to sacrifice the Great Tree just to save Martel!"

"That's right." Lloyd clenched his fists. The angel hadn't even tried to deny it! "The same way you were willing to abandon the declining world of Sylvarant to save Colette. What you're doing is exactly the same."

"No, it's not!" Genis protested. "Lloyd is looking for a way to save Colette and both worlds! You're just a coward who gave up!"

"It is indeed the same thing. I am trying to create a world without discrimination. That is the true way to save the worlds. People fear and hate that which is not normal." Zelos remembered the weightless room, remembered how uncomfortable he'd been with it and recalled his words. _Not normal…_"They are scared of that which is different. Therefore, the solution is for everyone to become the same. By using the Exspheres to eliminate the different bloods flowing in elves and humans, everyone on this earth will become the same, lifeless beings. Discrimination will vanish and that is the great age that I strive for."

"Everyone…the same…?" Genis murmured, remembering the looks, the spat words. "People would stop treating us differently?"

"Don't fall for it, Genis!" Lloyd warned him. "Remember how the Exspheres are made! Don't you see what's wrong with that?!"

"With revolution comes sacrifice. If you cannot understand that, then you deserve to die with the others." Yggdrasill hadn't planned for this group to die originally. They were too extraordinary for that, but he wasn't above killing them. He vanished, reappearing not a foot away from them, dark pink wings making small breezes with each flap. "But first, hand over the Chosen."

It was more difficult than it should have been to fight a flying opponent, especially one so agile. And their bodies seemed heavy to them now that they were closer to the ground, now that gravity had been reinstated.

But Colette collapsed to her knees, breathing hard—too hard even for a battle such as this—and Lloyd immediately sheathed his swords as he ran to her. Yggdrasill watched, ghostly memories floating to the surface, memories he'd tried hard to both bury and keep alive.

At his distraction, a powerful Fireball spell was shot at him. He twisted at the last moment to avoid taking the brunt of the hit, but it still seared his entire left side. Pronyma began charging a spell, one of her darker arts, and before Yggdrasill could think about it, he flew to push Genis out of the way, taking the dark spell in the back.

Genis' wide, blue-gray eyes stared at the angel, whose face he couldn't properly see because of the veil of pale blonde hair. "W-why?"

The angel recovered his composure, straightening as much as he could. "Pronyma, why are you here?"

"Sir…new activities in regards to that certain matter has…"

"I see." Yggdrasill looked over at Lloyd, still kneeling by Colette, a hand on her small shoulder and dark brown eyes, tinted red in the odd light, focused on the angel. "Not always is there a way to save everyone. Remember that. The path that you seek, Lloyd, is nothing more than an illusion." He and Pronyma both vanished in a whoosh of mana.

Genis bent to pick something his sharp elven eyes caught. The smooth wood in his hands felt familiar, though he had only held the item a few times before. "It can't be…"

-/-////-////----////----///-------//------//----/

"How is she?" Lloyd looked at Altessa, Tabatha and Raine standing before the door to the shared rooms.

"Colette's fine." Raine assured him. "She's sleeping now, but when she wakes up, she'll be fully healed and the Cruxis Crystal will be fully controlled by the Rune Crest."

Lloyd smiled in relief. "Thank goodness. She's finally going to be okay."

"Let's have dinner in celebration." Zelos suggested, looking up from the cooking pot. "I went all out. This stew has got carrots and meat and potatoes…"

Genis looked over at his half-elven friend who was setting out eating utensils for everyone. "Hey, Mithos…we're friends, right?"

"Of course we are." Mithos smiled at him. "What are you talking about?"

Genis' eyes were very serious as he looked at him. "I believe you…alright?"

"You seem very eager to eat." Sheena remarked as Zelos handed her a bowl before sitting beside her.

"I'm finally over my headache and being that high up made me really hungry for some reason."

Sheena looked at him thoughtfully. "Maybe you and Seles have that in common."

Zelos blinked at her. "Since when does she get headaches and get hungry from being that high in the clouds and when did she ever go into the Tower for that matter?"

"I'm not talking about that specifically. But you guys have some weird…infirmities, for lack of a better word. I mean, you get sick if you eat peanut butter. Not peanuts, just peanut butter."

Zelos gave her a flat look. "What's your point?"

Sheena grinned. "Just that you and your sister are freaks."

-///---/////---///////-------//////----//

Sheena awoke to a low humming, but found herself unable to move. She shifted her eyes around, trying to catch hold of the situation. The door to the bedrooms were ajar and, by a faint purple glow, she could see Lloyd's familiar face and an unfamiliar silhouette. She looked back around her and found that everyone else was asleep. No, not asleep, Sheena realized. Drugged.

Who had made dinner that night?

_"I went all out. This stew has got carrots and meat and potatoes…"_

Someone was speaking inside the room and it was the voice that she recognized, though it was slightly hoarse for whatever reason. "Do you want to meet your father?" Yuan was asking Lloyd.

"What have you done with my dad?!" But Yuan disappeared and Lloyd clumsily rolled off the bed onto his feet, not bothering to pull on his boots.

Sheena tried to call out to him, to get his attention, but her voice and body wouldn't work. She could only watch as Lloyd ran out the front door.

-///-////-----///--------//

Lloyd was stopped just outside the front door, two swords to his throat. But not far away, he could just make out Kratos, also standing with two Renegades as guards. "…Kratos? I thought the Renegades and Cruxis were enemies."

"Quiet." Yuan commanded. "Though the drug should have everyone sleeping soundly." But he'd noticed a quickening of mana in the Altessa's common room, so someone might be somewhat aware of what was going on, but he'd been unable to pinpoint who.

"Where's my dad? If you've done anything to my dad, I'll tear every last one of you to pieces!"

"Now, now, is that any way to act when you're about to meet your father for the first time?" Yuan chided. He was trying to act as though he were enjoying this, but in truth, his stomach was twisting itself into knots. He was betraying his best friend!

Said best friend (were they former friends? What were they now?) had an incredible ability to remain calm in these situations. "So it was you. You were the assassin in Hima."

Yuan turned to the other angel, not wanting to see his godson's face when he got the news. Kratos met his gaze steadily. "Kratos, if you value your son's life at all, you'll do as we say." Kratos only gave him a warning look. But Yuan had something inside him, something left over from their teenage years, which liked to yank too hard on people's chains. "Release Origin's seal, otherwise Lloyd dies right here, right now."

Kratos wondered if Yuan would really do it, if he would really kill his own godson. But it certainly wasn't a gamble he was willing to make.

And before he could say anything to divert the situation, Lloyd was looking at him, eyes wide with horror (brown eyes, Anna's eyes). "No…Kratos can't be my dad. I can't—I won't believe that! The one who betrayed us and made Colette suffer? Who tried to kill us? You're lying!"

Yuan looked straight at Kratos, though it was an effort because all he wanted to do right now was apologize. That's right, drive it home exactly how much Kratos had lost fourteen years ago. "How does it feel to have your own son reject you like that?"

How Yuan recognized Kratos' defense mechanisms! The uncaring mask ,the one that looked almost bored had Yuan not known the rage simmering beneath its surface.

The half-elven angel saw the hand tightening on Kratos' sword and warned," One move and your son dies." Yuan had learned long ago that if you repeated a word over and over long enough, it lost all meaning. Your son, son, son…perhaps if he said and thought it enough times, none of this would have happened. It would have all been a terrible dream.

"You changed once you got a family. Soft, you could say. Even fifteen years ago," Had it truly been nearly fifteen years since he'd seen Kratos nearly fall apart in his room at Derris-Kharlan? It seemed so much longer ago. "When Anna transformed into a _monster_ and you lost the ability to fight back. Such a pitiful woman, really." No, Anna had never been one to be pitied. She wouldn't stand for it, he remembered. She'd been a proud, brave woman…"If she hadn't been together with you, she would never have ended up like that."

Kratos could only stare at Yuan unblinkingly. He couldn't hate the man—how could he hate his best friend (if they were still that), his only friend in the world, really. He hated Mithos in that moment, hated Kvar and all the circumstances that had brought them to this point, but most of the hatred was for himself because Yuan had not lied once tonight. Kratos couldn't even hate Yuan for throwing his most terrible sins in his face, for exposing them to the one person whose opinion Kratos cared about.

But Lloyd…Lloyd could summon the anger, the rage. He ducked past the guards, slamming the hilt of his swords into their diaphragms and making them gasp for breath before drawing those blades on Yuan.

"Don't say things like you know everything!" Lloyd said, his voice deadly quiet. "And don't ever mock my mom!"

Yuan reacted instinctively to the thing his mind perceived as a threat. He dodged the blades swung at him, lightning appearing in his hand without him ever thinking about it. Kratos moved without thinking as well, blocking the path of the lightning with his body.

Kratos could only stare at the boy…the young man…his son…before him. The one who they'd placed all of their hopes and dreams, and the dreams of Martel, in. "Are you alright?"

"…Yeah."

"…Good." The one word he could summon from his throat before he fell backwards, having no strength to stand.

The door opened, Colette slipping through the crack. Yuan isn't surprised—her angelic metabolism would have processed the drug by now—and motions for the guards to lower their weapons. It wasn't in her temperament to attack any of them. Colette runs to Lloyd, a hand on his shoulder.

"Do you remember what you told me the night before we went into the Tower for the first time?" Colette asks him quietly. She must have heard it inside, what with her angelic senses. "That no matter what I became or looked like or even who my parents were that I was still me. The same thing goes for you."

Lloyd glanced at her through his bangs which had fallen forward. It was getting long enough now that they nearly reached his eyes. Colette could see the resemblance now between Lloyd and the man collapsed on the ground before them.

"I'm…still me…"

"…Regardless of who he is, Kratos _did_ save your life." Colette reminds him.

Lloyd looked down at Kratos…his father. "Thanks…but I still can't call you Dad." Kratos hadn't expected him to. It wasn't a title he'd earned; he hadn't, after all, been there for his only son for the past fourteen years. "I hate what Cruxis does. Too many people have died. People from Sylvarant and Tethe'alla…Desians and Renegades and even members of Cruxis. They're all victims! I refuse to accept the idea that it's okay to sacrifice people for a cause. No life should be born for the sole purpose of dying. I'm not giving up until I find a way for everyone to live."

"Wow, that was an amazingly corny speech. Congratulations." Explosions burst through the air, the light nearly blinding everyone. Yuan whipped his head around to look at a specter from a past he wished he could forget.

Mithos was leaning on the doorframe, arms loose at his sides, but with a confident air that Yuan can't remember where he learned it. In this form, his true one, he was just beginning to get the gangly arms and legs of a teenager and Yuan remembers that Mithos had been tripping over his own legs as they'd grown. He remembers teasing him and wrestling with the boy he used to be, the one that there is nothing left of now.

"That's enough, Yuan." There was nothing young about those blue-green eyes, the expression on the lovely child's face haunted. "You must be really pathetic if you thought that I didn't notice what was going on. I had Pronyma keep tabs on Kratos since it seemed he'd been leaking information to Lloyd's group."

Mithos' hand raised and Yuan couldn't do anything to stop it because not only was it a child's face staring at him, but it was **her** little brother, the one that had disappeared the day that **she** had died.

Yuan could feel the magic burn into his skin and knew that he would have a lot of bandaging to do later because he had a feeling that this was only the beginning. "Dammit, Yggdrasill! How the hell did you find out?!"

Mithos sauntered closer with a feline grace. "That was a pretty amusing scheme you had going. It's hard to believe that those pesky Renegades that were always getting in my way were actually led by you. If it weren't for my sister's wishes to spare your life, I'd kill you right now."

The kicks and blows rained on Yuan, but he didn't cry out, only listening to the quiet, insane laughter of this man-angel-child. He had taken beatings before, beatings from having been caught thieving as a child in what was now Asgard, beatings from Kratos training him and a thousand other beatings for a thousand other reasons, but this one hurt the most because, even now, he could still see traces of **her** in Mithos' features.

The door opened and everyone ducked through the door, the red-haired Chosen staying towards the back and even now, Yuans's sharp eyes caught the way that the summoner was refusing to stand anywhere near him. He saw the look on Raine's younger brother's face, saw the automatic denial of what was happening. Had that been he and Kratos' expression when Mithos first proposed the Age of Half-Elves or had they still been too lost in their grief?

Yuan spat out the blood in his mouth. "You hid your true self and approached them, didn't you?"

"So it's true…"Genis could only stare at the half-elf he'd called friend.

"What, that you shouldn't have trusted me?" Mithos spun on his heel, a disturbing smile on his lips. "As astute a guess as ever because I didn't trust you either."

Mithos' spell knocked Altessa off his feet and Tabatha was at his side the next instant. Yuan focused on the pain because otherwise he'd slip into the past and he'd done enough of that in the past four thousand years because that wasn't Martel, couldn't possibly be her because she's dead, dead, dead and gone.

"Mithos is a kind person." Tabatha was saying. "That is why you saved me."

Mithos used to be kind, once upon a time. Back when they'd first met, long before they'd ever heard of Exspheres or angels or any of that. In the few weeks just after Martel's death, Mithos had clung to sanity in whatever ways he could, but then he just stopped trying.

Mithos must have forced himself back into reality, must have seen what was really there _(not Martel, can't be Martel)_ and shot the spell that had been glowing in his hand. "Shut up! You damned doll that looks so disturbingly like my sister…She's just a failed vessel that couldn't accept my sister's soul."

Lloyd's anger was back , swords drawn. "You little bastard! How dare you betray my best friend?!"

Genis ran in just a moment too late for the Demon Fang had already reached Mithos. Lloyd had apparently taken to that attack as easily as his father had when they were teenagers. "Lloyd, please stop! You're both my friends."

Yuan had to admire the kid's loyalty, even if it was badly misplaced in this instance.

Mithos glowed brilliantly white. The next instant, Yggdrasill stood there, wings iridescent in the darkness, as was the magic that made Kratos' body fade away. But his final words echoed back from the cliffs. "No life should be born for the sole purpose of dying? What do you think those Exspheres are that you're using?"

It took Yuan more effort than it should have to lever himself on his forearms. "I'm getting too old for this." He muttered, only because he needed to say something to take his mind away from Martel.

Someone moved to stand in front of him and a slender hand was offered. He followed the arm up with his eyes and saw the summoner—Sheena, was her name? He thought about it for a second then decided that he was really not in the mood or the shape to be standing on his own and allowed himself to be helped to his feet.

"Are you good to stand on your own?" Sheena asked as he pulled away from her.

"I don't have much of a choice. I need to get to the Renegades and tell them to get out before Yggdrasill kills them all."

Sheena caught him as he buckled a little. "You should at least let Raine heal you a little. Or hell, Zelos could fix some of the damage."

"That'll take too long and besides, Altessa is going to need all the healing he can get." Yuan pulled away from her again, standing a little more steadily and Sheena could see how the Renegades were willing to follow this man against an organization like Cruxis. Yuan never asked of anyone what he wasn't willing to do himself and, clearly, he was willing to die for them.

"You planned to form the pact with Origin and use the Eternal Sword, right?" Sheena asked. She knew stubbornness when she saw it (how could she not when she was stubborn herself?) and knew that there was little point in trying to talk him into getting a Healer before his Renegades were safe.

"Right. And then I would have used the Mana Cannon to blast that damned tower out of the sky, allowing the Great Seed to sprout. After learning of Lloyd's existence from a Desian insider," That was a lie. Yuan had known of Lloyd's existence since Anna had told Kratos she was pregnant, had been there to keep Kratos calm while she gave birth and had babysat on more than one occasion. He'd kept tabs on Lloyd, knowing that when Cruxis fell, Kratos deserved to know that his son was alive. "I was certain I'd be able to force Kratos to participate."

Lloyd walked over and Yuan could see the maelstrom of confusion in his eyes, but he said, "You didn't approve of Mithos' Age of Half-Elves?"  
"That plan was the result of a twisted perception of Martel's last wish. It's not what she truly desired." Yuan can still hear her speak sometimes, on the long, lonely nights. Can hear her dream aloud of a world where no one would have to run or hide because of their blood.

"What was her last wish?" Sheena asked, crossing her arms. Autumn was beginning in Tethe'alla, though she knew that in Sylvarant, summer was only just beginning.

"She said that she wanted to see a world free from discrimination."

"Before you go, can you answer me this?" Yuan glanced back at his godson. "Is Kratos really the only one who can release Origin's seal?"

"Yes. The seal will be released upon freeing the mana from Kratos' body. It's a seal based on his own life."

"Are you telling me that we have to trade his life in order to get the Eternal Sword?"

"You won't be able to use the Eternal Sword even if you could get it, Lloyd. It doesn't require the power of a summoner. You must merely be acknowledged by Origin. And even if you managed to do that, the Eternal Sword can only be wielded by a half-elf. Origin created that sword for Mithos."

Yuan's wings spread wide, alighting the night, before he took off. Sheena made a mental note to drop by the Renegade's base and check on him because she knew that there was no place else that Yuan would be. Despite their initial mistrust of the Renegade leader, Sheena had grown to like the man. He was honest, to a point, and straightforward. And apparently very loyal to his followers.

Zelos, coming up behind her, tapped her shoulder. Sheena turned to look at him and he said, "Lloyd said that we were all drugged. I was going to check for any lingering traces of it."

Sheena met his eyes coolly. "And aren't you the least bit curious as to _how_ we were drugged? There isn't any magic to make someone invisible and no one walked through that door."

"What are you saying?"

"_You_ were the one making dinner tonight." Sheena said quietly. "I want an honest answer, Zelos. Did. You. Drug. Us?"

"Of course not!" Zelos said, offended. In truth, he had, but he'd double and triple-checked the drug to makes sure that there were no aftereffects and nothing harmful about it. Just a knockout drug. "It must have been Mithos when I went to chop the carrots or something! How could you think I'd do something like that?"

"…I'm sorry, but what else was I supposed to think? And why didn't he slip a drug in to kill us if we're such a pain?" Sheena allowed Zelos' touch on her temple, the warmth of healing magic probing through her as he searched for any aftereffects.

He shrugged. "I don't think he knew that Yuan was coming tonight. Maybe he wanted to keep his cover."

"Then why drug us at all?"

"He might have had something different planned. Who knows with that psycho?"

"He might be psychotic, but I can't say that he's doing this for the wrong reasons."

"The means don't justify the ends, Sheena."

"I know that. I'm just saying that I can get where he's coming from."

Zelos couldn't agree. It was Mithos' fault that there was a need for a Chosen at all and he couldn't forgive the man for that.


	12. Betrayed Once More

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Tales of Symphonia. I'm a sad panda. But I finally got my game back from my friend, so I'm a panda whose feeling pretty good.

**Author's Note**: Found a way around the whole section divider thing, so I'm gonna have to go back and edit the other chapters, but that'll have to wait for a few weeks because I've got two research projects to do. One on Celtic culture and another on forensic anthropology.

Ah, also, I have never seen snow. I have lived in a semi-tropical place all my life, so if my descriptions are wrong, I apologize.

-///--////---///

_"Then you should have died! Died rather than betray your friends, as we would have for you!"—Sirius Black__** (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)**_

-///-///----///--//

Sheena was half-dozing when Raine walks out of the front door. She looks like hell warmed over, her silver hair in disarray and there are dark smudges marring the pale skin beneath her eyes. But then, Sheena wasn't sure she looked much better. None of them had gotten any proper, non-drugged sleep.

"How is he?" Presea asked after clearing her throat.

Raine ran a tired hand through her hair, wincing when she came to a tangle. "I managed to heal what I could with the Unicorn Horn, but he should get a proper doctor as soon as possible."

It sounded odd to them to hear the word 'doctor'. They had all become so accustomed to Raine being able to heal everything with her magic that they'd forgotten all about normal-people medicine and magic wasn't nearly as effective on those without Exspheres.

"I know a good doctor." Sheena told them. "We called him in from Flanoir when our chief suffered a serious injury."

"Sounds like a plan." Lloyd said, though Sheena could see that he wasn't entirely focused on what was going on. She couldn't blame him after the events of last night. "Since none of us got much sleep, we'll take turns on the Rheairds. One person sleeping the way there, one person on the way back."

Everyone agreed happily to that. Raine was automatically chosen to be one of the sleepers. They tried to get Lloyd and Genis to sleep too, but they refused immediately. Sheena climbed on, fully intending to stay awake when Zelos hopped up behind her.

"You're dead on your feet." Zelos said as way of explanation, wrapping an arm around her waist as they begin ascending. She'd been getting bandages and gathering herbs half the night. "You should've stopped when you got too tired."

"You didn't." Sheena argues, though she settles back a little more comfortably against his arm. He'd been checking aftereffects and healing the minor wounds they'd gotten from fighting with the angels. "Besides, I wouldn't have been useful otherwise."  
"Must you always be useful?" Zelos asked as they leveled out fifty feet below the clouds.

"'Course." Unconsciously, she leans back, his chest very warm against her back for it was rather cold this high up. Under any other circumstances, she wouldn't have trusted the man to keep his hands to himself, but after last night, there would be no games.

Zelos shook his head, holding Sheena a little tighter. "You don't have to be, darling." He feels her tense a little against him and he continues, "But I won't say another word about it."

"Thanks."

"Now sleep." Zelos ordered, though exasperation marred the seriousness of the command. "It's a two hour trip into the cold. Might as well rest while you can."

-///-///----///----///

"Where'd Zelos go?" Lloyd asks as they're entering the city. Sheena had still been half-asleep as the redhead had helped her down, so she hadn't seen for sure, but she was fairly certain that he'd be running inside to get some cover from the harsh, icy winds.

Flanoir's stone streets are slippery with ice and Sheena wonders what insane person decided to build a city in this weather? But, she reminds herself, the worlds weren't always like this. Flanoir could have been built before the worlds had been split and the snow was something newer.

"Lloyd, you're late." Zelos is half-huddled against the cold in front of the doctor's office.

It's wonderfully toasty inside the office and they can only stand just inside the door out of gratefulness.

The doctor is a graying man with thick round glasses seeming to magnify equally gray eyes. "Sheena! I haven't seen you in ages! How's Mizuho?"

Zelos' eyes flicked to the doctor, not trusting the too-friendly tone. Sheena and him had met, what, once?

"We have someone about to die." Sheena said urgently.

"Oh, dear. That does sound like bad news. It'll cost you. I'm not running my business as a charity."

"We'll pay anything!" Sheena cut across Lloyd before he could say anything. It wasn't as though they didn't have enough money earned from fighting and the occasional odd job when they were really desperate. "Please, hurry!"

Zelos would have loved to volunteer to go back (it was too damn cold here and there was all the _snow_) but it was his turn to be dead on his feet. Sheena glanced at him and said, "I'll get us some rooms at the inn."

Raine nodded. She would be weary for a while, but she needed to go to explain to the doctor what had happened. Presea wanted to go as well (Altessa had, after all, jumped in the way of the attack directed at her) and Regal didn't much like the cold either. Then again, he had grown up in Altamira. Genis went as well, but he wouldn't tell anyone why.

-///----////-----////

Zelos half-slid down the stairs, refusing to take off his socks and boots even though he was inside. He blinked at the warm glow from the fireplace. He had, after all, seen only the insides of his eyelids for the past few hours. Sheena was curled up on the couch, blanket around her shoulders and a book in her lap.

"What time is it?" Zelos asked a little groggily. The little sleep he'd gotten hadn't been nearly enough, but with the snow and the cold—even with the several thick layers of blankets and the fire in his room—he hadn't been able to sleep very well.

Sheena looked up at his voice then glanced at the clock ticking on the wall. "…Little after midnight."

"What're you doing up then?" He nudged her feet aside to make room so he could sit.

Sheena shrugged and handed him a mug on the end table. "Couldn't sleep. There's coffee though and it's pretty damn good."  
"Bless you, darling." Zelos takes the mug gratefully, taking a long sip. He preferred his coffee black, black as the devil's own heart, where Sheena liked hers with copious amounts of sugar and some cream. But he certainly wasn't going to turn down coffee. "What're you reading?" Sheena held it up so he could see the cover. "Where'd you get that?"

"I went wandering since I didn't think I could stand to be cooped up a minute longer. I found this little bookstore down by the old church. There wasn't a very big selection, obviously, but I did find this."

"And what is it that put you in the mood for kids' stories?"

Sheena made a noncommittal noise. "Just…everything that's been going on lately. It just feels like something needs a happy ending."

Zelos grinned. "You're a romantic."

She scowled at him. "No, I'm not."

"You so are. _That's_ why you would always get up to go get a drink at the end of all those classic films we used to watch."

"You're the one that picked half of them." Sheena reminded him.

"Liking romantic comedies is not the same thing as being a romantic." Zelos claimed.

Sheena laughed, closing the book though she kept the page with her hand. "Of course not, Mr. I-cried-during-_The Half Elven Barber of Ellen Street."_

"Ah," Zelos held up a hand. "I had something in my eyes. There was a lot of pollen in the air that summer, remember? And it was only towards the end."

Sheena gave him a flat look. "Please, Zelos. We watched that movie dozens of times and you seemed to get something in your eyes _every time_."

Zelos took a long sip, not meeting her eyes. She laughed again and shifts so that her back is against the couch's arm. "….What story were you on?"

"…The one about the boy who didn't want to grow up, but I'm nearly done with that. The next one is _Carlotta's Web._"

Zelos frowned. "I don't think I've ever read that."

Sheena's eyes winged to her hairline. "Never?!" He shook his head. "Get comfortable."

"What?"

"Well you can't go through the rest of your life without having at least heard _Carlotta's Web, _so I'm reading it to you."  
Zelos can't remember ever being read to. Not once. He settled in, tugging half of Sheena's blanket over his own shoulders. "I didn't think you were one for reading aloud."  
Sheena doesn't reply, just opens up to the right page and begins to read. Her voice is melodic; as warm and familiar as her weight beside him. He smiles as she reads because you didn't read childhood stories to people you didn't trust or people you were angry at; you read them to people you loved.

-///-////----////-------////-----///

Everyone comes into the lobby the next morning, a little surprised to see Sheena and Zelos looking perfectly comfortable in their sleep, an open book of children's stories resting upside down on Sheena's thighs.

They wake at the familiar voices, but they don't jump apart as the rest would have expected them to do before. Sheena comes to full awareness first. "How's Altessa?"

"He's out of immediate danger." Raine says, letting herself fall into an armchair. She'd gotten more sleep on the way here, but there was no substitute for a proper bed and a full night's rest. "Some of Mizuho's people and the doctor are watching over him now."

"That's good news. "Lloyd leans his forearms against the back of the couch. "I've got something to say…The worlds aren't ever going to change if we just wait for Cruxis to make the first move. So we're going to strike them first this time. I've got two objectives—prevent Mithos' new Age of Half Elves," Mithos' name in the place where an enemy's should be still feels weird on Lloyd's tongue. "And release Origin."

"But what about Kratos when you release Origin?" Genis asks. He looked a little better, a little more stable, than he had when they'd first flown over here. Perhaps he'd found that steel in his spine.

"…We don't know for certain if he'll actually die if we release him. We also don't know if he'll be willing to side with us or not and we don't have time to worry about the things we're not sure of."

"And Origin's seal?" Regal asks. "Even if you managed to break it, you cannot wield it. And I do not think Raine or Genis can either."

"I've got that part covered." Zelos said. "Why do you think I can use magic swords? I was injected with magic. It's some of Tethe'alla's latest technology. To make it simple, I'm a human with elven blood in me. That should work."

Sheena glanced over to him. "Tethe'alla has technology like that?"

Zelos shrugged. "Apparently."

Lloyd looked over at Colette, hesitating just a little. "I…need you to stay here. They want you as Martel's vessel. The Renegades or Mizuho can hide you."

Colette shook her head. "No. I'm going too. I refuse to stay here and worry about you all."

Zelos smiles just a little. Sheena's independence had clearly rubbed off on Colette. Seeing the protest on Lloyd's face, he says, "You don't think you can protect her, do you? Such a sad thing…Don't worry about a thing, Colette. I, the great Zelos Wilder, swear to protect you." Lloyd's eyes are narrow, shoulders tense. Zelos had hit a soft spot. "Take her along, Lloyd. She'd follow us anyways and they're always going to be after her. Be a man; show her what you're made of!"

"This is weird." Sheena said, stretching as she stood up. She'd slept in her clothes, not wanting to be exposed to the cold even for the few seconds it would have taken her to change. "We actually have the same opinion."

"Fine. Colette, you can come along."

Sheena smirked, leaning her hip on the arm of the couch. "Like she needed you to tell her that."

Zelos and Sheena head upstairs to clear out the rooms they'd rented. Sheena's at the door and asking him for blankets that they'll take with them. If Altessa or anyone else didn't want them, Zelos would surely add them to his collection back home, she said.

He handed her the folded stacks of the warm blankets. She was juggling them with difficulty—they were a little bulky to be certain, but they'd be nice during Meltokio's winters.

Zelos glances up and down the hall, checking to see if anyone was coming, before gently cradling her head in his hand, praying that she didn't hurt him. "Sheena," His voice was little more of a warm breath on her face. "I'm only taking advantage of you know because I don't think I'll ever catch you with your hands full again." He presses his lips against hers, kissing her softly and carefully, making sure not to cross any boundaries other than the one he's just crossed.

Sheena stiffened, forcing the blood to not rise to her cheeks. She can't maim him for stealing a kiss, though quite honestly, that is her first instinct. "You've got some nerve, Wilder."

His heart drops a little. She hadn't called him Wilder for years. But it was better than Chosen. Anything was better than her calling him by his title. Sheena turns on her heel and packs the blankets in garbage bags to be put in the wing packs later and it's only in the semi-privacy of her room that she lets the blush rise to her cheeks.

There's a knock at her door—Thank the Goddess because Zelos wouldn't have bothered—and Raine is there. "Do you have a brush I could borrow?"

They were about to go fight their greatest enemy, about to infiltrate the enemy lair, and she wanted a brush. But then we often resort to comfortable things in times of stress. Sheena tossed her hers and Raine frowned at the lingering blush on the ninja's cheeks.

"…Is something the matter?" Raine asked, beginning to tug the brush through her tangled hair.

"What? N-No. Nothing."

Raine studied her expression. "What did Zelos do?"

"What makes you suspect that he did anything?"

"You only ever get expressions like that when Zelos does something. So?"

Sheena doesn't reply right away, just brushes her bangs out of her eyes and stares out the window at the falling snow. She could write the entire incident off as induced by being snow-crazy. And she knew, as Colette had known during the angel transformation, that Raine would not speak about it to anyone. "…He kissed me."

Raine is nearly startled enough to drop the brush, though she catches herself. "That isn't something I quite expected him to do."

"Oh really?" Sheena leans back against the wall, hands folded on the small of her back. "I was under the impression that you didn't exactly have a very high opinion of him."

"Not towards women in general, no, but to all of us, he's been nothing but respectful of boundaries. Physical ones at least. And it always seems like he's more careful around you."  
"I honestly don't have anything to say to that. He really isn't anything like you might think he is. He was before we really became friends, but ever since…" Sheena's shoulders lifted and fell in a shrug.

"I would like to offer you some kind of advice, Sheena, but honestly…I'm no good in these situations."

Sheena hadn't expected her to. Raine had had Genis to care for and she always seemed much more in love with her research than she would ever be with a person. But it was nice to know that someone was willing to listen.

Sheena asked the innkeeper if she could keep the garbage bag of blankets behind the counter and swore she would pay for the blankets since she really did like them. The innkeeper agreed and wished them luck.

"Zelos!" Lloyd called as they were all walking out the door. "I trust you."

Zelos grinned a little. "Relax, Lloyd. You can count on me." For some things.

"I hope so."

-//---////----/////

"Colette, c'mere for a second." His stomach is twisting itself into vicious knots with the knowledge of what he's about to do, but he keeps his sister's face in his mind. This was all for her.

The other Chosen, the good Chosen, the one who wouldn't betray the people she cared about, followed him up to where she was out of reach of the others. Three angels appear surrounding her and blocking her exit. The teleporter behind him whirls to life and Pronyma is suddenly there.

"Good work, Chosen." Zelos has to work hard not to flinch at the title he's hated for so long. "Now bring her to me."

"Sure." He activates the teleportation magic. He's had to practice on fruits and dancing balls of fire in the night during his watches. It had been difficult to learn.

And then it's _her_ voice. The one that had read to him last night for the first time in twenty years. "What the hell are you doing?" Sheena demands, her eyes immediately locating all of the exits, all of the attack points. He's put her on her guard and that's a dangerous thing to do.

He forces himself casual, forces himself to act like he doesn't care. "I'm just putting myself on the winning side. What you're trying to do is hopeless and meaningless. Colette wanted to be a sacrifice, don't you remember?"

"Zelos…you traitor!" He's infinitely glad that _that_ word didn't come out of Sheena's mouth when it was directed at him.

"A traitor? How amusing." Pronyma's voice reminds Zelos of the slippery snakes and eels that they'd seen on their journey. "Zelos was our spy from the very beginning."

"It's not true, is it?" He doesn't want to look at Colette. Some part of him always wanted to hate her for being so damn good when she didn't need to be, when no one was watching. "Please say that she's lying."

"I side with the strongest. It was a simple matter of weighing the Renegades, Cruxis and you guys."

"I can't believe you were leaking information to the Renegades too! Dammit, but I knew you were a pervert but I never doubted you were a good person when it came down to it." Sheena isn't reacting like she did with Kratos. She isn't numb and she isn't disbelieving. She's seen the signs, heard the suspicions and believed the lies; the anger is being summoned as easily as her Summon Spirits.

"Why thank you, my voluptuous hunny." It's easier than it should have been to turn away from six pairs of accusing eyes, especially the hazel ones towards the back. "But in the end, I choose this side because Mithos promised to release me from my fate as a Chosen of Mana."

Sheena sees a brief light of understanding there. She knew how much Zelos hated being the Chosen, but she couldn't forgive him for this. Regal is the one that speaks of their astonishment. "You hate being the Chosen so much that you would betray your friends?"

"Oh yeah I do. It's _because_ of that title that my life has been a total joke." Except for those years after he'd run into a fiery young woman going home from doing her shopping in the streets of Meltokio. "I can't stand it. I can't wait for Seles to become the Chosen instead." Because then she could get out of the Abbey, be outside, see the world, have a _life_.

"You're lying." Lloyd declares and Zelos feels a brief burst of hatred for his friends and their damned loyalty. "I still trust you, you hear me? You're the one who told me I could trust you!"

"What are you, stupid?" Zelos leans on a pillar, casual and uncaring and trying very hard not to see the people in front of him. "Or can't you tell when someone is lying to you?" He reactivates the teleportation magic, a complex circle appearing below him. It wasn't nearly as complex as those that appeared when he used elemental magic, but then, that was all drawing raw elements out of thin air. "Let's go, Lady Pronyma."

Colette is calling Lloyd's name with increasing desperation as the teleporter whirls beneath them and Zelos clenches the hand that's on his hip tight enough that he's sure there will be a bruise there later.

-///------/////-------//////////---------///////

"Did we ever really think about the things that Zelos said?" Lloyd asks quietly. He's not sure if Sheena wants to talk about this right now, but he thinks back to what Zelos said, way back in the Lightning Temple. That walking on eggshells around Sheena only makes things worse.

"Are you saying we should have been suspicious about every single thing he said just in case he sounded like a traitor?" Her voice is tight with restrained anger and Lloyd is fervently grateful that he's on her side.

"No, I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying that maybe we never realized his true feelings behind all of the jokes." They hadn't realized it, but Sheena had. Sheena had known for years how much Zelos hated the title of Chosen, of the situation with Seles. But she had never had any doubts about which side Zelos was on. But perhaps things really had changed that much in the few months she'd been in Syvarant.

How long had Zelos been lying to everyone, lying to _her?_ From the beginning, as Pronyma said? Or had it been later? Sheena had no way of knowing.

Lloyd is wondering aloud why Cruxis needed such big doors that it took all of them to heave open and even then it was only a crack that was just large enough that they could all slip through. Bells are ringing and Sheena is reminded immediately of the bells at sea docks and at church. She forces down the memories that come with the latter and tries to focus on what's going on.

High, high up towards a ceiling not even visible from here, angels, lined up like little porcelain dolls on a rich woman's shelf, are snapping to life (if they could be called living). They back up against each other automatically, shrinking at the sight of such an onslaught of winged beings.

"There's no end in sight." Lloyd says on her left.

"Make a break for that passage." Regal tells them and they don't argue with him.

The ground is shaking behind them and the sound of the great pillars falling is thunderous. They can hardly see Regal through the debris.

"I'll hold them off here! Hurry!" Regal urges them.

"You know I can't leave you behind." Lloyd says.

"There's no time and you know that! You're the only one that can save Colette."

"You can't just expect me to leave my friend!"

"That is not what you're doing! I once wasn't able to protect someone very important to me. This time…I'm going to succeed. I will protect my friends. Lloyd, save Colette."

Sheena can see the frustration and the eventual acceptance. "…Alright. Regal, don't die. Don't make me go through the same pain you did, you hear me?"

They run into the teleporter, struggling to all stand on it at the same time because they have an instinctive fear that it won't let the others through. It's easier than it should have been for everyone to fit.

They're running down a long spiral staircase and Sheena wonders why in the hell Mithos needs all of this stuff. Angels had wings; they didn't need stairs! But then Sheena thinks of Exire, thinks of all of the ancient buildings with missing pieces and wonders if this is what is left of that ancient city that Mithos sent to the skies.

Sheena jerks Lloyd back by the collar as powerful roots stab downwards. "This thing isn't going to let us through." Sheena studies the tree, recognizes the gruesome bark and the twisted trunk. "This thing looks like leftovers from earlier."

"You mean the Giant Tree's…?"

"Just stand back and leave this to me." Lloyd obeys and watches as she summons Tethe'alla's Summon Spirits with an ease that he can't remember her having when they started all of this.

"What're you doing?" He asks as the sparkling threads of mana gather in her hands. It reminds him of what Regal did back in the cell.

"My impression of the Mana Cannon. It should be enough to take care of this thing. When I give the signal, run across the bridge."

Everyone nodded. Lloyd was the one who asked, "What about you?"

Sheena assured him she would be fine. She gives them the signal and they dash beneath the tree while it spasms in pain from the excess mana. The tree's weight made the bridge fall. Sheena had fully intended to go after them, but the Summon Spirits' mana was connected to her own now and she found her knees wobbling with the effort to stay standing.

"I'm alright!" She calls over to Lloyd because she knows how he worries.  
She can see him beaming from here. "That was amazing, Sheena!"

Sheena can't help but return that smile, leaning wearily on one of the stairs' pillar. "Heh, just don't ask me to do it again. That drained all my mana, I'm just gonna rest awhile now—"

Sheena's jerked downwards by the ankle and is barely hanging onto the ledge. A root is wrapped firmly around her ankle and she's half-fearing that the joint will break under such strain.

As Lloyd worries and tries to figure a way to save her, Sheena can't help the chuckle that comes bubbling to her lips.

'_What incredible new dredges of clumsiness have you reached?'_

"Wha—what's wrong with you? Why're you laughing?"

This only made Sheena laugh a little harder, trying to keep her body from shaking. Maybe she _had_ gone over the edge finally. "Just rememberin' the time we first met. Looks like I've got a strong affinity for falling into holes. Now don't worry about me. Go save Colette. I've gotten out of worse scrapes than this!"

"This is not the time to be acting tough."

"I-I'm not acting." Sheena isn't sure why her voice suddenly cracks a bit on the word and she tries not to think about the person she usually associated with acting—a redhaired, idiotic, stubborn, arrogant and loveable pain in the ass. "I climbed out of that lost hole and took you on, remember? This is just like that. And this time—I promise—I won't miss the main event."

Lloyd nods. "I'll be waiting for you."

Sheena waits until she can no longer hear her companions' footsteps to grumble, "I'm so _stupid._ Stubborn to the very end, I guess. Really wish I could be more feminine at times like this and let him rescue me!"

'_You're the girl that hates sexist morons.' 'And you're the guy who doesn't know how to take a hint.'_

'_Violent Demonic Banshee.'_

Sheena shook her head. "Well, that wouldn't really be my style, now would it?" But her grip was weakening, hand slowly slipping down the root. It didn't take much more than a few tugs on the root's part to have her falling down, down into a darkness that was deeper even than Shadow's temple. Sheena begins to wonder how that's possible, but then figures that there's very little point in wondering.

-////-----////---////-----///

"Professor Sage, are you really making that many mistakes?" Lloyd asked, turning back to her. Something about the sight of her working on these machines in an otherwise empty room in the basement of the Tower of Salvation (for that really was their best guess as to where they were) was too odd. Raine had always been surrounded by something—books, papers to be graded, other people. Here in this emptiness, it seemed strangely foreboding.

"There's no time for that now! I'm opening the next door!" Lloyd is distracted by the vicious plants behind the door as Raine taps furiously away at the keys.

Lloyd strikes them down, running back into the room as the last door opens. "Professor Sage, it's open! Come on—"

The ground is trembling beneath her feet, but she shows no signs of fear or worry. She stood, back straight and as calm as though she were merely back in the classroom in Iselia, watching her students play outside in the afternoon. "Lloyd, this room is going to collapse soon. Hurry and go!"

"No!" Lloyd protests. "I don't want to sacrifice anyone anymore! I refuse to leave you behind!"

"When did any of us become a sacrifice? I believe in your ideals. A world that would accept those of us caught in the middle. I believe in your vision of the world. It's become my hope as well. I came all the way here to realize that very dream. I've no regrets."  
"Saving the world won't mean anything if we lose you." Lloyd tells her and he doesn't speak a word of a lie. He's known her for so long that he finds it difficult, nay, impossible to think of or remember his life without Raine Sage.

"My soul will live on in the world that you create. But if your ideals die today, then my hope dies as well. Living without hope is worse than death, don't you think?"

"I-I don't understand that at all!"

Raine hadn't expected him to. In all the time that she had known Lloyd, he had never failed to smile, to find the bright side in anything. She finds it incredible and sometimes even a little exasperating. "Then use your remaining life to think about what it means for a person to live. That is my final lesson to you as your teacher. Now go. Do as your teacher says."

She almost doesn't hear his parting words as he runs down the hallway over the din of the collapsing room. "I'll never forget you!"

"The rest is in your hands, my precious student…."

-/-//---///-----/////

"I'm the only one that can fit through there." Presea says. Lloyd almost points out that Genis could fit as well, but if there were monsters on the other side, Presea was a much safer bet.

"…Okay. Be careful."

The vent is small and Presea finds it difficult to move even her knees as she crawls through it. She is sure that there will e angry red scrapes along her elbows and knees when she gets out of here.

The machinery on the other side is unfamiliar and she frowns at it—she can see the lever is stuck without even touching it—before slowly pressing some buttons that looked promising. With a gentle hum, the lever unstuck itself and the door behind her is slowly beginning to close. She runs to try to stop it—how, she did not know for she is small and, while strong, she has not the mass to hold such a door up—but finds herself falling forward.

Presea breaks her fall with her forearms, pulling out the ax that she kept on her belt. There is a powerful weight attached to that root wrapped around her foot, but she tugs herself the scarce, precious inches closer and stands her ax up hilt-down. It wouldn't hold for very long, but it would hold. Presea is jerked back forcefully from the door and she holds onto the edges of the hole in the wall with all her strength (had it been anyone else, even Genis with his inch or so on her, they would not have fit through it).

Lloyd is dashing through the door and is frozen at the sight of her. "Presea!"

"Stay back!" Seeing him about to protest, Presea presses on. "Lloyd, you are a kind person. But if you allow your kindness to interfere with your judgment, you are merely weak." She can see from here how the ax is beginning to crack beneath the strain. "Do not forget that you have something you must do. Go. If you don't, I'll lose my respect for you."  
Lloyd looks at Presea, still struggling to stay outside of the hole and the first thought in his mind is Colette's face, one of the faces most ingrained in his memory. "…I'm sorry, Presea!"

Presea watches as he slides beneath the space in the door and watch your father's ax break beneath the weight.

-///----////-----///////----------///

"It's no good. There's one over here too." Genis reports as he jogs back, glancing over his shoulder at the blue barrier.

"We'll just have to attack at the same time and smash our way through!" Lloyd sees the doubt in Genis' eyes. They remind Lloyd of Raine's, but Genis has a touch more gray in his. "Dwarven Vow number sixteen, you can do anything if you try! And if we fail, we're dead anyways, so give it all you've got."

Genis smirks a little. "I should've expected a plan like that from you. All right, let's do it."

They're standing side by side, just far away enough from each other to make sure that they wouldn't trip over each other in the running. Genis almost tells him the fatal flaw of the plan (fatal for him) but thinks better of it. He remembers what his sister said and knows that he can't let all that everyone else had done go to waste.

"Three!" Genis sends the fireballs flying high at the barrier while Lloyd's Demon Fang hits it low, creating a person-sized hole.

He tries to get his body to move, tries to tug it into motion, but to no avail. His mind had always been faster than his body.

"It worked!"

Lloyd's form is blurry and tinged blue because of the barrier. "It was pretty good for one of your plans, Lloyd. The only flaw was that you didn't take into account my lack of physical reflexes."

"You…did that to get me out?"

Genis has never been a particularly good liar, especially not to Lloyd, but he tries anyway. "N-no."

Lloyd calls him on the lie. "If you knew it would end like this, why'd you do it?"

The swordsman could never understand why people were willing to place their hopes and dreams on him, why they trusted him with so much. Genis tries to put it in a way that Lloyd could get it. "If you'd been in my place, you'd have done the same thing. You always jump in without thinking to save someone in trouble. It's what I admire about you. Now hurry up and go before it's too late."

"No way."

"I said go! I'm…different from you, Lloyd. I'm a coward. When it comes down to it, my body starts shaking…" As did his voice. "I don't want you to see me looking pathetic in the end. Now go!"

Lloyd's words sound weird through the barrier. "You fool!"

Genis stays standing up until Lloyd disappears into the teleporter. That's when he lets his shaking knees give out and try and take some deep breaths. "…You were my best friend, Lloyd." 

-///----//------/

"It is finally time, dear sister. This body has the closest match to your mana signature. I've failed many times in the past, but this time I swear I'll make it work."

"Let her go!"

Yggdrasill whipped around to look at the speaker. "How did you get in here, Lloyd? The lock to this room can only be opened by a member of the Cruxis high order!"

"That doesn't matter!" Lloyd retorts because he doesn't know how he did it himself. "What does matter is that your selfish dream ends here!"

"Oh really? And you're going to defeat me all by yourself, are you? Then prepare yourself." Yggdrasill shot his arm up, the light magic materializing. Lloyd didn't even have time to draw his swords, only time to shield himself with his arms and pray that that was enough.

But the brilliantly white light from Yggdrasill's hand disappeared with a slight gasp of pain from the angel. Both human and angel looked up to the source of the attack that had burned Yggdrasill's back.

"He's not alone and we won't let you so much as touch him."

A wide smile broke out on Lloyd's lips. The last he'd heard of Genis' voice, it had been shaking. And he knew the people standing behind the half-elf too. "Guys! How on—you're okay!"

Sheena hopped down, landing lightly on the balls of her feet. "I _told _you I wouldn't miss the main event. You never listen to me."

"I couldn't possibly miss seeing the new world that's about to be made." Raine tells him as Regal steadies her after she jumps down.

"As long as I can fight, I will stand by your side." Presea promises.  
Lloyd looks at them all. They're all a little worn and torn, dirt marred Sheena and Presea's cheeks and there were a few scratches on Regal's legs, red, but not bleeding actively. They'd would have died for him. He doesn't think that he deserves friends like these.

Yggdrasill leans gracefully away from the seal Sheena throws at him to get some distance between him and Lloyd. "You all are still such a sorry lot." But, Yggdrasill muses, he supposes that he, Martel, Kratos and Yuan hadn't made a much better impression either. "Pronyma, it is your fault that they're still alive. Kill them."

Servants of such dark magic that they had note even dwelled in the depths of Shadow's temple are summoned by the green-haired woman. Their scythes drew powerful arcs in the air as Genis' magic thundered through the air and shook the ground. Raine's silver-lined green healing magic rejuvenated Lloyd, who looked over at her. He hadn't known that any of his minor injuries were visible.

"You're helpless without me, it seems."

He couldn't help the bark of laughter as he fended off Pronyma. Her magic is abstract, ones that none of them have heard on their journey, but Genis' magic is more powerful by far.

"Lord Yggdrasill…it hurts…please, help me…" But the angel's eyes were not focused on the battle, but rather on his sister's form whose glow was steadily becoming brighter until it disappeared altogether.

"I've succeeded! Martel is awake!" Sheena tries to ignore the way that, even with the deeper, older voice, she can still hear the voice of Mithos saying those words as a child would wake their parents excitedly on Celsius Day.

"Lord Yggdrasill…Mithos…please…" Pronyma crawls closer to her lord and master, legs to weak to even stand.

Sheena is startled by the sudden flash of fury in the angel's blue-green eyes as he turns to her. "Only my former companions can call me by that name! Get out of my sight!" in another of his star-bright spells, Yggdrasill strikes her down with too much ease.

Colette rose from the machine, walking with a grace not her own. The pace was a little more brisk, the confidence much more visible in the stance. Sheena remembers how Mithos had said that Tabatha looked disturbingly like his sister and looks back at Colette and Yggdrasill. Now is when she can see a disturbing resemblance that shouldn't be there.

"Dear sister, you've finally come back to me."

Lloyd is searching Colette's face for any recognition, any sign of the girl he'd grown up with. "It can't be true!"

"Mithos, what have you done?" It is most certainly not Colette's voice that speaks, though it comes from her mouth. This voice isn't as high-pitched, isn't as hesitant. It is somber and calming and Sheena wants to describe it as almost motherly except she has no idea how a mother should sound.

"Martel? Oh, you mean my body. I hastened my growth to have an appearance befitting a leader of Cruxis. Wait just a moment, I'll switch back to my old form." Sheena blinks and the Mithos they'd befriended was standing there.

"No, Mithos. Not that. I have been seen the foolish things you have done. I watched, unable to move, unable to do anything. Have you forgotten everything? We stopped the Ancient War because we dreamt of a world where humans, elves and all those caught in between could live in peace."

"All this after all that trouble I went through to prepare that body for you? But I see…you don't like that one, do you?"

"Mithos, please, listen to me. What you have done…all of it…is wrong." Sheena thinks that she can sympathize with Martel. It had all been done with the best intentions, but people had been hurt and even killed for those intentions. "It is not what we strived so hard for."

"…Wrong? Are you rejecting me?"

"No, Mithos." Martel knows that even with her little brother having become this destructive, half-mad person, she could never stop loving him. "I want only for you to remember and to become the person you were before."

"Martel…so even you reject me…" Sheena finds it odd that she can still feel sorry for Mithos, for this man-angel-child who was a little more than slightly insane who had been betrayed by his oldest friends and now by his own sister. "No, Martel would never say something like that." Bright bursts of light spring from Mithos' hands and the Tower begins to crumble.

Sheena thinks that if she never feels anything shaking beneath her again, it will still have been too soon. There's a flash of red in front of them and Zelos is there, hooking something onto Colette's precious birthday necklace.

"What are you doing?!" Mithos demands. "I thought you wanted me to set you free from your fate as the Chosen!"

Zelos does a little half-spin on the balls of his feet, pale blue eyes glinting, "Oh, I forgot to mention this to you, but I changed my mind. My being the Chosen won't matter after we beat the snot out of you."

Lloyd's smile is bigger now. "Zelos! I knew you'd come back to us!"

"Oh yeah…sorry about all that. It was the only way I could get my hands on this." Zelos tosses Lloyd a small, shining object. "Refine that with your dwarven arts or whatnot and it'll let even a human use the Eternal Sword."

"Are you saying you did all of that just to get this?"

"That's right." Both Lloyd and Zelos glance at Sheena when she answers. "This stupid Chosen," Zelos knows that lopsided smile. She didn't mean what the title as an insult. She hadn't quite forgiven him, he knew that. And he also knew that her forgiveness would be a slow thing and for something like this it would take her much longer than a year. He hopes he can stand it. "Released us from those traps back there."

_ The darkness deeper than Shadow's dungeon was lit by a starburst of color that physically hurt Sheena's eyes enough that she had to shut them. The root on her ankle was cut abruptly and she's falling only a little slower than before. Her descent is stopped suddenly by a very warm and very solid pair of arms._

_ Sheena cracks her eyes open to see who it was that had caught her and is surprised to see a familiar face with pale pale blue eyes framed by crimson hair. She tenses immediately and it only worsens when she sees what exactly the source of the starburst was. It was the two glowing sunset wings._

_ Zelos winces at the look on her face and tries for a charming smile, though it comes out as more of a grimace. "Hey, darling."_

_ Sheena doesn't struggle and doesn't hit him, though she wants to (Oh how she wants to). He is, after all, the only one out of the two of them that had wings and was currently the only reason she was still alive. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"_

_ Zelos bristles. "Saving your life."_

_ Sheena can't quite find an argument against that. "After you betrayed us!"_

_ "…All part of the plan, sweetheart."_

_ "I'm so happy to know that this wasn't a flighty, spontaneous decision on your part." Sheena snarls._

_ "We can discuss this later." Zelos tells her, setting her down in a hallway in which one of two entrances was a collapsed room. "Lloyd is that way. Go."_

_ "And where exactly are you going? To report back to Yggdrasill?"_

_ Zelos turns in the air, flying backwards and Sheena wonders exactly how long he's had those wings to be so comfortable with them. "Actually, I was going to save Raine because I'd hoped you'd be kind enough to find Genis."_

_ "What happened to Presea and Regal?"  
"Regal's already on his way to find Presea. There's an alternative way to the room that she got pulled into."_

_ Sheena decides that he's right; they can argue this later and she knows that there will be an incredible amount of shouting after this is through._

"But," Zelos says," It is true that I deceived you. I held you all back a lot for a real long time." Two months, he thinks, but it could very well have been an eternity. "I figured I'd at least have to do something like that to make up for it."  
Mithos has been watching the entire exchange, fuming silently and Sheena knows that this can't end well. When someone as unstable as Mithos had as much power as he had and got to an uncontrollable level, there was no way that it could end on good terms. "Damn you! Give me back my sister!"

"Mithos, this is my final wish. Please return the worlds back to their original form. Goodbye."

"No, Martel! Don't go!" It is the plea of a child who has seen too many terrible things.

"If things were going to end up like this, perhaps the elves should never have left Derris-Kharlan. If they hadn't, people like us never would have been born." Colette's body collapses, bereft of Martel's strength.

"…I see. So…so that was it." Sheena's heart sinks when she hears that laughter that had no place in the child's body. "Martel, you just wanted to leave this filthy world and return to Derris-Kharlan. That world is the homeland of all elven blood. Yes, dearest sister…let's forget these filthy creatures and return home…together."

Colette struggles to her feet and Lloyd is there in the next instant, helping her up. Her skin is cool to the touch, even though his gloves, and he wonders if he should worry or if that was simply a side effect of Martel's possession. "We have to stop Mithos." Colette tells him, having to hold onto his arm to remain upright. "Martel is calling to me. She _wants _us to stop him."

Mithos whips around in an instant. "Martel would never say something like that!"  
"She did say it and she was crying while she said it! She told me to not let everyone suffer anymore!"

Mithos ignores her, raising his arms and the Great Seed begins to float. It doesn't look like a seed to Sheena, much more like a bud. But perhaps its brief stint when it was released into the worlds had given it that look. It's petals, still closed, still stiff, glow translucent and eerie.

"Lloyd, if we lose the Great Seed, we'll be destroying the hopes of the Renegades." Zelos says.

"And the people of Mizuho won't stand for it either." Sheena adds. "Without the Seed, the Giant Tree won't germinate. Without mana, the land dies."

Lloyd makes sure that Colette is standing on her own before he draws his blades in one smooth motion. Mithos glances between them all before that terrifyingly broken gaze lands on Lloyd. "I won't let you interfere."

Silver feathers are falling as Mithos transforms into Yggdrasill. Sheena wonders if the boy feels too fragile to take them on in his true form. They're all weary and exhausted from earlier fights and Raine has her hands full keeping them awake, let alone in perfect condition. Zelos fends off the light magic, deflecting them off of his sword while Sheena gathers up an extraordinary amount of mana, dark mana, but not evil. It was like the shadows of your room—familiar and interesting to watch. In a sudden burst, the mana explodes into Shadow who unleashes a devastating attack on Yggdrasill before disappearing back into the darkness.

Yggdrasill unches in on himself, the dark magic strong and distracting enough that Lloyd had managed to slash through the angel's ribs, possibly breaking one or two, knowing Lloyd's strength. The angel disappears into sparkling lights—like silver fireflies— and his words hung in the air long after he was gone.

"Home…I'm going home with my sister…"

Lloyd is supporting himself on his swords, breathing hard. "It's over."

"Is it?" Kratos appears, not dressed as he was when he was an emissary from Cruxis with its impossible number of belts, but as the man they'd first met him as. "The worlds are still split, the Great Tree has yet to germinate…so enlighten me as to what is over?"

There's no hint of what had occurred not two nights ago in Lloyd's eyes as he looks at his father. "Good timing. I've been meaning to ask you something. What was it that you saw in Mithos? What was it about him that made you help him seal Origin?"

"Mithos was…my apprentice once and a valuable friend. Is that not enough?"

"Do forgive everything someone does, no matter how horrible, just because he's your friend?"

Zelos thinks that that is rather hypocritical of Lloyd, but he doesn't really have a right to talk at this juncture, so he wisely keeps his mouth shut.

"There is little point in explaining myself further." Kratos says and Zelos wonders if it's simpler than that. Perhaps he just doesn't want to admit these reasons to his son, who he still wanted a high opinion of even now. "If you want to release Origin, you must defeat me." Kratos strides past them, not really looking at any of them. "…I'll be waiting for you all before the seal."

It takes them a few long minutes to finally think that they should be going. They have to half-support each other down the steps, too tired to really think of talking very much. Sheena seemed to almost make to help Zelos, but ultimately didn't. Zelos didn't say anything to that, didn't think that there was a whole lot that really needed to be said. Not right now at least.


	13. Lessons of the Father and Origin

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Tales of Symphonia. I'm a sad panda. But I finally got my game back from my friend, so I'm a panda whose feeling pretty good.

**Author's Note**: Spent most of Mother's Day chilling out and watching movies with the family. Watched at least three kung fu movies, Monster-in-Law, Iron Man 2, Last Boy Scout, and Leap Year. Loved them all.

The ending is honestly one of my favorite parts of this game. I think Mithos is such a brilliant villain and Kratos…he's just Kratos. Enough said on that. I actually forgot about Origin until I got to writing him and then I was wondering exactly how I forgot him. He's kind of vital, y'know?

Happy Mother's Day, even if it is a little late, to all those amazing people we call mothers out there.

-///--////---///

_The father who would taste the essence of his fatherhood must turn back from the plane of his experience, take with him the fruits of his journey and begin again beside his child, marching step by step over the same old road. ~Angelo Patri_

-//--///--///

Heimdall is peaceful, but it doesn't feel right. It is the forced kind of peace, if that is even possible, and they all know that none of them belong. Wide, slightly slanted eyes are on them, especially Lloyd. Apparently, Kratos was famous (infamous?) among the elves and to see his son…it must have been something rather shocking.

"Are you feeling alright?" Sheena asks Lloyd that evening after they've had their dinner of pork and potatoes. Apparently, what Sheena and Genis had said in the Ymir Forest wasn't a joke around here.

Lloyd looks over at her and he looks older then than in the entire journey. There are no circles beneath his eyes, no new line of the face. It is no physical representation of his age; simple a maturity, a weight that had not been there before. "Yeah, of course."

"should've seen that coming. You're not the sort of person who would answer that with a 'no.'"

"…Am I like him?" Lloyd asks quietly. "Kratos, I mean."

Sheena looks him over. There is a physical resemblance, though she knows that that's not what he's asking for. Sheena is sure that he looks more like his mother, Anna, than Kratos, but they look alike in the shape of their eyes and the strong lines of their faces.

"…Sometimes." Sheena replies honestly because Lloyd deserves the truth. "You're not as...ruthless or cold as he is, but you guys have the same hearts. I mean, you wouldn't have left any of us behind, would you?"

Lloyd truly didn't know the answer to that right away. If they'd come up with a plan like Mithos had, could he have turned them down? Friends who he'd fought with? Laughed, eaten and slept with? Friends with whom he'd shared dreams and fears? Friends who had been willing to _die_ for him? His moral center told him that no, he wouldn't have because Mithos' plan was the wrong thing to do. But his heart would have gone with them, helped them with their ideas.

And that was the truth of the matter. Lloyd couldn't abandon his group of friends any more than Kratos had been able to abandon Mithos.

"No, I couldn't."

"…It's not a bad thing to be like him, Lloyd." Sheena tells him gently. "Kratos…he isn't a bad guy, he isn't really our enemy. He…wants to do right by this world and…by you especially, I think…and he's doing it in the best way that he knows how."

"Could you do it?" The swordsman stuffs his hands in his pockets. He's without his swords tonight and it's weird to not have their familiar weight on his hips. "Leave us behind if we came up with a plan like that?"

"Today is really not the best day to be asking that."

"Because of Zelos?"

"He betrayed us." Sheena says quietly.

"So did Kratos." Lloyd points out. "And Kuchinawa."

That strikes a nerve. "I never said that I forgave any of them!"

"This is my advice and…you don't have to take it if you don't want to, but I think you should talk to Zelos. Really talk to him."

"No. If I talk to him the way I am now, I might end up killing him and we need him to bring down Cruxis. No, I'll talk to him when it's all over."

"Won't you be Chief of Mizuho by then?"

"What's your point?"

"It won't be the same. You have to talk to him as you, not as the Chief and not as an ambassador. Just you and him."

Sheena pinches the bridge of her nose. "Listen to me, depressing you on a night like tonight. I am so sorry."

"No, really. I _like _talking to you, Sheena."

"Either way, we should be getting some sleep. Big day tomorrow and all that."

On sudden impulse, though Lloyd isn't sure whether it's for his sake or hers, he hugs her. It's quick and a little awkward because he isn't too much taller than her and he's all flat planes of muscle to her womanly curves, but she appreciates it just the same.

-///----////-----//----//

"You okay, Zelos?" Lloyd asks the next day as they're traversing through Torent Forest. Zelos had looked almost…cold…ever since they'd left that morning.

"…I just can't accept the way he acts. Kratos, I mean." That wasn't all of it. He'd seen the hug that he'd given Sheena last night and while he knew it had progressed no further, he couldn't help but feel the monster of jealousy growling in his chest.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize."

"Yeah, but…"

"You are his son, I suppose." Kratos and Lloyd aren't very much alike, he supposes. Zelos has never been good at seeing the resemblances between family members. "But the way that he decided to leave the job of setting things up to you is just…really irresponsible. It's like he's trying to run from the situation."

Lloyd smiles a little. "Wow…when you start insulting people, even Kratos isn't safe."

Zelos thinks that Lloyd is a passionate person, something that Kratos seemed to have lacked. But then Zelos had never known him as long as Sheena and the others had. Perhaps they had seen something he hadn't. Or rather, something he'd seen only in glimpses. Like when Yggdrasill had all but broken Kratos after finding out about his betrayal to Cruxis, but Kratos hadn't said a thing that could possibly endanger his son/ Like the way that Kratos had known Zelos was betraying them, but had found a way for Zelos to get back some trust.

Zelos had heard the others discussing Kratos' betrayal on some nights. Had heard of them dissecting his words and actions. How he was always polite, how he was always giving them advice on their fighting techniques, how he would always help Genis and Lloyd with their homework. How he'd been so angry with Kvar and how he'd become a support beam to Sheena when she'd been frightened about the pact with Undine.

But Zelos had heard about the way that Kratos had left with Colette before them, had stayed in the shadows when they'd been fighting Remiel. How there had been, and still wasn't, an apology, an excuse or something from him. And the way he was acting with Lloyd, Zelos couldn't forgive the man—who was over four thousand years old and plenty capable of taking care of himself—for pushing his responsibilities onto his only son.

Zelos had never exactly had a great role model for a father, but even he knew that there were just some things that weren't done.

-//----////-----//////---/////----//

The seal of Origin lay deep within Toret Forest. It stood within an open space, surrounded by thick grass as green as the bottle glass. The trees hear were solid and ancient, their bark thick and scarred from battles long forgotten. Some were leafless now, but still their branches were beautiful in their nakedness. The sky was very blue above them, though it seemed that it should have been much later than that because time seemed to both stop and move much faster in this forest. The sun cast long the shadow's trees.

It was odd to see how well Kratos seemed to fit in here. Everywhere else, it seemed that he was out of place, a solid ghost walking because of his politeness (though those manners had been known to hold thinly veiled insults) and the respectful way that he treated people. Here, here he belonged. It was as though they'd stepped through a high window into another world, yet untarnished by Mithos Yggdrasill's insanity. A world that couldn't exist in their minds for they had known no other and the name for which had long since been lost.

"So, you've come."

"Is there no other way?" Lloyd asks his father.

"You'll die if you fight me with any doubt left in your heart." Kratos still can not yet believe that this is the son he'd held once upon a memory, the son who, along with Noishe and occasionally Yuan, would get into such trouble that seemed so…_ordinary_…that it had felt like something from a life not his own. "If you want the pact with Origin, then you must defeat me."

"So that's your way." Perhaps Lloyd had already accepted this. Perhaps he hadn't. It was impossible to tell from his voice. "Everyone, leave this to me."

Sheena swears that she sees Kratos' garnet eyes widen just a fraction. That was a neat trick for an angel who'd lived so long. "You're going to fight alone?"

"I thought that was obvious." Lloyd draws his swords, holding them at his sides.

Kratos does the same and there, there! was the resemblance between them. In the way they entered battle. Shoulders relaxed, head high and eyes steady. "I'm not going to hold back this time."

"…I know. I won't either."

There was a rhythm to the battle. Kratos attacks and his sword scrapes against Lloyd's ribs. There is a furious ringing, Sheena would almost describe it as church bells, before Kratos' sword grazes Lloyd's forearm. But as Lloyd struggles to fend off the blows, he remembers sparring mercilessly with Kratos the Mercenary. His trepidation about the fight began to recede. This was just the same as then, only back then, Lloyd had not been as strong, could not have endured as long a battle. He was faster now and had more experience.

The fight accelerated, but even so, Lloyd couldn't bring himself to feel anything but calm. He was smiling, he realized. It was mad, but there was some beauty in this, something precious and rare. People around the world wished they could fight. Few could and even fewer could fight as well as either of them.

Lloyd's sword grazed Kratos' cheek, his other swerving low and slicing his bicep. He twisted his parry so that Kratos' sword just missed his shoulder. Kratos comes at him with a blow that, even when Lloyd blocks it, it makes his arm tremble, but there is a glimmer of pride in the knowledge that even thought Kratos isn't holding back, Lloyd can still hold his own.

Lloyd jabs forward, swords swinging with such a speed that Kratos is having difficulty blocking him because while Kratos is an excellent fighter, he wasn't a man who was naturally suited to speedy attacks like Zelos was and after months of sparring with Zelos, some of the Chosen's methods had rubbed off. He spins his sword around the hilt of Kratos', sending it flying and his other sword, as fast as summer lightning, resting on the hollow of Kratos' throat.

"You've…grown strong." Kratos says as he stares down the blade at his son and it is high praise from him.

"Thanks to you." Lloyd wonders if this will always be how their conversations are going to be from now on. Awkward and nothing of what needing to be said was being said.

"Aren't you going to finish me?" No hint of fear reaches those eyes, that face, that Lloyd is only just beginning to remember as his father's.

Lloyd lowers his swords. "I've defeated Kratos, the angel, who betrayed us. And I forgive Kratos, the hero of the Ancient War, who helped us. That's all." Sheena wonders if, subconsciously, Lloyd knows that just saying those two things, never mentioning the fact of his paternity, will hurt Kratos more than simply killing him.

Kratos' small smirk is bitter. "And I thought I'd finally earned the right to die. But you're as soft-hearted as ever."

Lloyd watches Kratos as he walks towards the seal, limping a little from a cut that went a little deeper than he thought it had on his thigh. "W-wait a minute. You can't be…are you going to break the seal?"

"That is what you desire, is it not?"

"But then—"

Lloyd doesn't get to finish the protest because Kratos is placing his hand on the seal, glowing that pale blue and his wings spread. The sun shining through them throws exotic shadows and shapes across the ground. He collapses and Lloyd has only time to cry his name as Yuan appears to catch him.

"Don't worry, he's alive." Yuan assures his godson, feeling a little weak. "I gave him some of my mana." Had this happened before, Yuan isn't sure he would have. Eternity is a long time to live with heartaches and regrets and he wouldn't wish the pain on anyone. But he can see hope now and he thinks that Kratos should have the opportunity to see the new world his son is striving for.

"Da…"Lloyd stutters on the word for the first time because this isn't the person he can always remember calling Dad. He isn't a short, muscular dwarf that had raised him. "Kratos. Are you really alright?"

Kratos attempts to sit up a little and Yuan subtly but firmly pushes on his stomach to stop him. Alive he might be, but until he got a Healer and some rest, he wouldn't be fit for much. "…Looks like I've failed to die once more."

Yuan remembers the attempts. They'd all tried it more than once over the millennia, the centuries, but they'd always been from a stubborn lot and there had always been that one spark in them that had not been ready to die just yet.

"You stupid jerk!" Lloyd yells and Yuan suppresses a chuckle, though he can feel the slight shaking of Kratos' shoulders. Lloyd was indeed Anna's son. "You can die any time! But when you die, that's the end. You can't help anyone when you're dead."

"You want him to live in eternal damnation?" Yuan asks because he thinks that Lloyd should be told about what it was like from people who knew.

"I never said anything like that! What do you accomplish by dying? Tell me, Yuan! Nothing, that's what. There is no meaning at all in dying."

Kratos smiles, just a little upturning in the corner of his mouth. "You're…right." If only Lloyd knew how sparingly those words came from Kratos' mouth! "To think that I had to have my son…" Yuan wants to smile then. He really does because this is the first time in fourteen years that Kratos has said those words to someone other than him. It's a step forward. "Teach me such an obvious lesson."

Kratos' head slumps onto Yuan's shoulder, too exhausted to stay quite conscious any longer. When Lloyd takes a worried step forward, Yuan tells him, "He'll be fine. Go, form the pact with Origin. Isn't that why you came all this way?"

Raine gestures for Yuan to bring Kratos to her. Yuan has to work to lift Kratos—the man was nearly 190 pounds of muscle, after all—and sets him down near the trees, though he refuses to let his friend go. Raine's Healing magic is warm, even to someone who isn't receiving it. Yuan still isn't fully healed from Yggdrasill's beating a few nights ago. His ribs are still fragile and his bruises still stiffen his muscles and he wonders how powerful of a Healer the half-elven woman was if she could even begin to heal Yuan just because he was in close proximity to her magic.

"You who lack the right." Yuan recognizes Origin's voice as though he'd heard it only yesterday. He supposes that Origin's is not a voice easily forgotten. "I have lost faith in all things. Have you come here to disappoint me as well?"

"Are you bound by a pact to Mithos?" Lloyd asks.

"My pact with Mithos was broken the moment I was freed. Never again shall anyone make use of my power."

"Even if we make a vow?" Sheena asked, stepping up beside Lloyd. "We need the Eternal Sword."

"I want to use the Eternal Sword to reunite the two worlds." Lloyd tells the Summon Spirit. "Unless we do something, the worlds will never stop vying for mana and everyone will continue to suffer."

"That situation was born from the weakness of creatures who were unable to accept those that are different."

"Maybe that's true, but mistakes can be corrected."'

"Some things cannot be corrected."

"Even so…we have to do everything we can. I'm not going to give up. From the moment they're born, everyone has a right to live. I want to reclaim that. Humans, elves, half-elves, dwarves and even Summon Spirits…everyone has a right to life!"

Raine stands, the healing finished. The only thing that could put Kratos back in top condition would be a few night's good rest. Kratos makes to get up and Yuan helps him stand, making sure that his friend was not about to topple over, funny as that would be.

"Origin…"Kratos calls to the Summon Spirit. They'd been friends once and he is not sure if that still stands, though he's willing to try. "For almost an eternity, I thought that the only way to save this world was to cling to Mithos' ideals. Just as you once agreed with Mithos' ideals...I too, thought that his was the only way. But Lloyd is different. He taught me that in order to change something, you must do it yourself. It is not enough to merely rely on someone else and go along with their ideals."

Origin looks down at his once-friend. They cannot quite be called that anymore, but Kratos had earned his respect many times over. He then looks at the young man standing beside Kratos. There was a similarity there. "…You who possess the right of the pact. Make your vow. I will…try once more to believe in people. I shall do my duty to create the world which you speak of…a world where everyone can live equally."

Sheena looks sideways at Lloyd, sharing a smile, before saying, "I, Sheena, have but one vow. To reclaim a world in which everyone can live freely. A world in which no life is sacrificed meaninglessly. That is all."

Origin likes the look of this woman summoner, likes the quiet strength in her and the steel in her spine. "Then we shall make a pact upon that vow. Now, fight."

-///----///-----//------///

"Pact-makers Sheena and Lloyd," Zelos, having moved back so that he was in the shade of the tree he was leaning against _(because Sheena hates you and isn't there to support you anymore)_ twitches. He hates the 'and' that connects their names. "I place my power in your hands. With that power, transform the Eternal Sword into a blade to save all life. However, the Eternal Sword remains, as by Mithos' pact, unusable by those who lack the blood of elves. You must master the sword by your own power and forge a new bond with it."

Genis runs up to Lloyd, grinning wide. "You did it!" He freezes in his tracks when he feels a powerful tugging sensation from his chest pocket. Mithos' Exsphere, snatched from the floor of the Tower of Salvation by Genis, floated towards Lloyd.

"There's no time." Mithos said, his translucent image floating above the ground. "I'll take_ your_ body."

Lloyd's body spasms and struggles as Mithos' soul invades his body. It's as though there's too much of…_something_…to fit in his body.

Raine is staring, eyes calculating and figuring things out. "It's Mithos! He survived in the Cruxis Crystal. Lloyd's body will be taken over unless we do something!" She whirls to look at Yuan and Kratos. "What can we do?"

Yuan and Kratos glance at each other. They'd heard of this happening, but it wasn't as though they'd ever figured out what to do when it did. Colette figures it out before they do and runs, pushing Lloyd hard, grabbing the Cruxis Crystal from his hands.

"Damn! The girl had to interfere! I suppose I'll just take this body."

"Let her go! We promised that we would go on a journey together when the worlds are reunited…" It's the first Sheena or the others have heard about it, but they suppose that they all had shared their plans after the worlds were reunited with someone. "So let her go!"

Mithos laughs. "What should I care? I'm leaving this filthy world behind!" He disappears and there is another rumbling of the earth.

Sheena stumbles and Zelos reaches out automatically to steady her. She glances back at him, but doesn't say anything because they both become too distracted by the crumbling of the Tower of Salvation.


	14. Farewell to Shadows and Welcome Peace

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Tales of Symphonia.

**Author's Note**: We're coming up on the end. This probably means I'll be spending most of the school day writing the last two parts that I've got sort of/almost worked out in my head.

Thanks to Chemistry and its boredom, I was able to get the ending of this story down. Now I just need to actually get to the ending.

This chapter gave me plenty of practice in writing practically every damn character in the game, though the mood of it fits since I'm feeling pretty sad. If anyone keeps up with the FMA manga chapters here, they know why.

This chapter has some of my favorite lines from Mithos. After this, one more chapter and we're finished. I promise.

-///--////---///

_There is one armor that the world of men and women, as a world, has never yet put on. The churches have long bungled with its fastenings, but the world has gone unfended, and few have been those in whose hands the mystical sword of the spirit has shone with daily use. This armor, waiting to be worn, is the armor of brotherhood and sacrifice, the world of unselfishness, a conquering sword, with the power, where used, to unite the world in love. And there are none who may not put it on. ~M.A. DeWolfe Howe_

-/-///---///----////

They keep close to each other instinctively. They can all feel the brush of each other's clothes or accidentally be whipped by a stray lock of hair. Zelos' grip on Sheena's elbow has yet to release her, but Sheena can't complain right now.

Zelos nearly falls when he's jerked backwards and when he looks at Sheena, who'd been running right beside him the entire time, she's broken free of his grip and is running back towards the place they were supposed to be running from.

Zelos curses beneath his breath and runs after her, quickly calling to Lloyd so that the dual swordsman knows where to find them.

"Sheena!" Why his best friend had to be a ninja, he had no idea. It was damn impossible to find her among the smoke and debris. "If you can hear me, say something!"

He hears a whisper of her voice, though she must be shouting, but the sounds of the pieces of the Tower crashing and homes burning and the screaming made it almost impossible to hear. Indeed, Zelos thought that had he not had angelic senses, he wouldn't have heard a thing.

He's running through the village, eyes tearing and coughing from the smoke, searching for the ink-dark hair—so uncommon not only to the village but to Tethe'alla entirely, for a glimpse of her purple_ haori_, her bright ribbon or even the jingle of Corrine's bell.

He hears someone stumbling down the steps not far from him and swings around to look at the person. Sheena is leaning her shoulder on the support beams of the porch of one of the houses, an elven child in her arms.

"What the hell were you thinking, running off like that?" Zelos asks angrily. "You could've been killed."

Sheena looks up at him, hazel eyes narrow. "I heard him screaming and I wasn't about to leave someone I could have saved behind."

Zelos' mouth moves in wordless frustration before he decides that now is really not the best time to be arguing this and takes in her shaking form. She was still weak from the fight with Origin, who'd, smartly, mostly targeted her and Lloyd. Zelos slipped his arms around the boy, carefully maneuvering him out of Sheena's arms.

"Let's go." He said. "The others are waiting."

-///---////----///

Blue and purple lightning flashed above them, thunder roaring across the sky which was no longer the lovely blue that had been there just that afternoon, but dark, roiling violets and sapphires.

"What is that?" Lloyd asked, staring in awe and perhaps a little bit of fear at the sky.

"That," Kratos replied, "Is Derris-Kharlan."

Raines shook her head. "That's impossible. There's no way a planet could exist so close to us without our knowledge."  
"It is the Eternal Sword that makes the impossible possible." Yuan's face is streaked gray with ash and soot. "The protective barrier projected from the Tower of Salvation is what keeps Derris-Kharlan hidden. But it has existed there always, for four thousand years."

"That's right." Everyone whirls, startled to see the speaker. Yuan's eyes in particular, widen in disbelief because Tabatha looks so much like **her** right now, in this village, and these last few months have been resurfacing ghosts and phantasms that Yuan would have much rather left untouched. "And now Mithos, with the Great Seed in hand, is trying to leave this land and take Derris-Kharlan with him."

"Hold on just a minute." Sheena said, looking between Tabatha, Kratos and Yuan. "Derris-Kharlan is a mass of mana and the Great Seed is the Giant Tree's seed. If he takes both of them, what happens to the worlds?"

"It would wither and die from mana deprivation." Yuan replies, massaging his temples. His fingers leave streaks in the ash and soot, exposing his tanned skin.

"We have to go after Mithos." Lloyd said.

"And how do you propose we get there?" Raine asked. "The Tower of Salvation is gone."

"If you really made a pact with Origin, you should be able to use the Eternal Sword, with its power over time and space."

"Altessa is not well enough to move." Yuan reminds him. He'd stopped by there on his way to Toret Forest that very morning. "Who would craft the Ring of the Pact?"

"Dad could do it." Lloyd suggests and Yuan looks confusedly at him for a moment. Kratos was skilled in many areas, yes, but craftsmanship was not one of them.

"Dirk?" Genis asks and that's when it makes sense to Yuan, as well as saddens him. He wonders if Lloyd will ever truly call Kratos by the title of dad.

"He's our only hope. We have to get to Sylvarant."

"I'm going with you." Kratos declared and Yuan echoes him. It wasn't as though he could do much good elsewhere.

-//---///----///

"Stop squirming." Zelos tells her as he rubs the gels into her cuts.

Sheena glares at him. "It feels weird!" It does indeed. The gels, once broken of their harder outer coating, were true to their name. They were squishy in the hands and slimy on the skin.

"Yeah, but it's doing you a world of good, so deal with it." And it was indeed doing her some good. The cuts that Origin had inflicted on her with his sword-staffs had been deep and bleeding, thankfully none of the injuries had been anywhere vital. Now those cuts were just harsh red lines on her skin, as though a cat had raked its claws along her arms and shoulders.

Raine had fetched the teapot, but Regal had hastily rescued it from her clutches and handed it to Yuan. It was difficult for the martial artist to cook with his hands cuffed the way they were.

Yuan's fingers danced along the labels of the jars of herbs that Dirk had on the understandably low shelves. The area was good for herbs, Yuan thought absentmindedly, noting the variety. Unscrewing several jars and plucking pinches of herbs out before replacing them, he could hear the conversation going on at the table.

"You want me ta do it? A dwarf who's losin' his skills by livin' on the surface?"

"There is no one else." Kratos tells him. "The dwarf that has the skills is unable to move…I've gathered all of the necessary items."

Dirk's skilled hands turn each object over, sharp eyes studying it all. "This is adamantite for polishing…What's the wood?"

"It is sacred wood. It must fuel the fire." Kratos explains.

Lloyd looks up at his birth father. It's a little disturbing to him that they're close to the same height, though Kratos had about four inches on him. "Is this why you were traveling all over Tethe'alla? To prepare all of this?"

Yuan stifle s a laugh when Kratos looks away, glaring at his friend when he saw the mischief in the dark blue eyes. Kratos was not a man who would physically blush, Yuan knew, but he knew the actions that equaled a blush. Looking away was one of them.

"Everything is set then." Kratos looks back at the dwarf. "I can't very well refuse after ye've gone through so much trouble now, can I? And I suppose it wouldn't hurt me to help out m' dearest son. After all, I'm his father too."

Yuan isn't sure whether Lloyd told Dirk about that piece of information, but he supposes that to a man who'd raised Lloyd, seeing the resemblances between him and Kratos was a simple matter. "Dwarven Vow number one, work together for the sake of a peaceful world."

For the next few hours, it grew quite hot in Dirk's home for the forge was located not far from the kitchen, just at the foot of the stairs. Yuan wondered how safe that could really be, having a forge in a wooden home, but shrugged it off. It wasn't his house. Lloyd was helping with the constant refueling of the fire, of the carrying of the bucket of stream water for the cooling.

Kratos accepted the teacup handed to him, cradling it neatly in his palms. "…I haven't had this in quite a while." He said after taking a sip.

"It's been a while since we really had a chance to sit down like this." Yuan pointed out. For at least fourteen years, they hadn't really been able to really behave like good friends should.

Kratos makes a noncommittal noise in his throat as he takes another sip. He was the type of man who liked to drink slowly. Yuan had never had the patience for that. "So what is it that's troubling you?"

Kratos looks sideways at him before returning his gaze to the two working at the forge. Yuan understands immediately after that. "The passage of time is incredible…isn't it?"

Kratos had to agree. Every time he'd dreamed of his son being alive, he'd always still imagined his son to be that innocently smiling three year old with the bright eyes and constantly getting himself into trouble. Even if he had aged his son in his mind, he had never imagined him much older than six.

To see him now, grown and strong with that sense of innocence not entirely gone, but muted perhaps with age. Lloyd looked and acted like Anna; her brown eyes and hair, her enthusiasm and optimism. Fiery, sassy, opinionated Anna.

"He _is_ like you." Yuan told him quietly.

"All evidence to the contrary." Kratos said, voice just as low. It might have even been lower than humans could hear, but they had no measurement for that anymore.

"I can prove you wrong there. I saw him once, actually pissed off enough that I swear I was looking at you when you were seventeen. A scary sight, to be sure. Knocks the socks off of those dragons."  
"…Since when do dragons wear socks?"

"Y'know, I don't need you and your logical protests."

Kratos shook his head. No matter how many years passed, he doubted Yuan would ever change.

There was a loud hiss and an explosion of steam. "It's done." Dirk announced.

Lloyd bounced the ring in his palm. It was a little warm in his hand, but pleasantly so. "With this, I'll be able to use the Eternal Sword, right?"

"That's right." Kratos said.

"Y' shouldn't hafta fight the biggest fight of your life without a night's sleep." Dirk said. "You all are welcome to stay here for the night." Kratos and Yuan immediately open their mouths to decline, but Dirk shook his head. "I won't be takin' no for an answer from either of ya. Ya look as tired as th' kids."

Yuan realizes now how a man like Dirk could have raised such an energetic and fiery kid as Lloyd. He left no room to refuse. "Is there enough room for us all?"

Lloyd was already climbing the stairs. "There's enough blankets."

"Then we're happy to stay." Yuan says. It's a partial lie, but his older brother hadn't raise him to be rude after all.

-//----///----/////---//

"Sheena, talk to me. Please." Zelos is standing on the bridge, arms crossed over his stomach and watching her.

"There's nothing to talk about." Sheena says curtly. She'd agreed to come out to talk to him, but that had been more instinct than what she really wanted right now.

"Don't do that. Don't pretend like there's nothing wrong."

Sheena hums and spins casually on her heel so that she's walking slowly towards him. The spin should have been an innocent, carefree movement, but the situation was too far broken for should-have-beens. "Let's think about this then. You pretend to be everyone's friend, kissed me and then betray us. And not only that, but you come back and act like you never left! Like we're supposed to welcome you back with open arms!"

"I did it for good reasons!"

"That doesn't matter! You should know that there are some things you _just don't do, _Zelos!"

He wants to go by his old measuring stick for her anger, the one he'd figured out during those seemingly endless summers and the many times that he'd been the subject of her irritation; if she called him by his title, she was well and truly pissed, if she called him by his last name she was either teasing or really annoyed and if she said his first name that she wasn't angry with him, just not willing to admit her not-anger. But Zelos is an expert in reading Sheena's emotions on her expressive face and he knows that this time there might not be any forgiveness left in her.

Zelos opens his mouth, trying to force an apology from his throat, and then thinks that he shouldn't have to force the apology. Weren't they supposed to spill out of a truly sorry person's lips like water from an over-full glass? But Zelos had never been very good at apologies and so his mouth closed without saying anything.

Sheena shook her head and said, "I'm not discussing this subject again and I'm going to bed. Good night." 

-///----//----//

Sheena is pulling her hair up into her messy twist with her ribbon when there is a gentle clink of blades. She glanced towards the table where Lloyd was holding two blades up to the light. They were beautiful blades to be sure. One was dark sparkling blue with a silver hilt, the other like fire itself captured in crystalline metal, its hilt warm gold.

"Thanks, Dad. And…Kratos. But, Dad…when did you…?"

"It's a present I promised ya. I figured that since you're grown all up now, I could entrust you with the finest blade I ever forged."

Sheena smiled. Both swords seemed to have captured all of Lloyd's passion and gentleness in his weapons. "Those are some nice blades. You don't have anything to match them in your collection, that's for certain." She glanced over at Kratos. She couldn't quite forgive the man, but Kratos clearly loved his son. Even if he didn't quite know how to show it. "Are you coming with us?"

Kratos shook his head. "No, I won't be able to accompany you. Lloyd, you truly have become stronger. I did not think you'd be able to inflict such damage on my angelic form. I can only stay here and wish you the best of luck to defeat Mithos. I'm…sorry that I've forced everything on you."

"I have the most amazing dads." Kratos' eyes glanced between Yuan and Lloyd. Lloyd had said 'dads'. Plural. "One made a ring for his son using lost arts and another risked his life to protect his son…in secrecy."

Yuan was offering Sheena a cup of tea, which she declined. She needed coffee badly this morning. Perhaps that was apparent on her face because Yuan nodded towards Genis, who was pouring it out of a different pot.

"You sir," Sheena said to Genis as she walked over to him, "Are a saint."

Genis laughed and Sheena pretended that it didn't sound a little strained. Then again, she supposed they were all a little stressed this morning, though they had their own ways of not showing it.

Raine was doing the dishes, Presea drying. According to the Professor, and the general population, it was the least she could do after Dirk had so kindly lent them his house. Sheena had heard Regal training relentlessly outside for hours. Zelos was at the foot of the stairs now and Sheena ignored the momentary freeze he did when he saw her.

Zelos accepted a mug of coffee from Genis and when he took a sip, he was surprised that it was too bitter for him. All his life, he'd drunk his coffee black. But he refused to put cream and sugar into the caffeinated beverage because that had always been Sheena's thing.

Sheena was nearly finished with her coffee when she figured out what the difference in the taste was. Ever since Zelos had first taken her for coffee in Meltokio, she'd always put lots of sugar and a little cream. But even though she'd fixed her coffee just the way she liked it, it still didn't taste quite right. And it could have been because Genis had done something to it—he was always adding those little touches to his cooking, after all—but somehow that didn't seem quite right. Perhaps it was because she and Zelos had, for whatever reason, always shared coffee, even when they had their own cups. The coffee lacked the slightly minty taste that was Zelos' toothpaste or his gum or whatever it was.

It was only as they were all leaving that Sheena heard Kratos say something quietly to Dirk. "I must thank you."

"What for?"

"Lloyd…he has become the man he is now because you raised him and you have raised him to be a better man than I could have ever hoped for. For that, you have my gratitude."

Dirk nodded, but said, "Aye, that may be true, but I can only shape what he had naturally. He got a lot of it from ya."

-//-----///////--------///////

"Mithos! Get away from her!"

Mithos was a translucent figure, not unlike Alicia had been, but his rage seemed to make him more solid. "How dare you, human? You…son of Kratos! How dare you give me orders?"

Lloyd doesn't recognize the dirt road, doesn't recognize the air that seemed very much alive and vibrating. He does, however, recognize the four people he sees directly in front of him. Mithos is kneeling by a beautifully plain woman, hair the color of those fruits that they'd encountered in Triet…kiwis, they were called and Lloyd doesn't think he's ever seen Mithos' face in a mask of such white rage. Yuan doesn't seem to quite believe it, dark blue eyes wide and face pale. And Kratos…Kratos' face was both furious and filled with a terrible sorrow. Lloyd never wanted to see that expression on his father's face.

It was only now that Lloyd began to hear their voices that sounded as though they were right in front of him. Mithos was murmuring a word over and over and it's only when Lloyd strains his ears that he can hear that the word is one that should have been so obvious. Martel. Over and over. Martel, Martel, Martel.

There is fury in Yuan's voice now, looking, seemingly, directly at Lloyd _(That's not possible…you were never there…you never met Martel…)_ "Human…" Lloyd had never thought he would ever hear such hatred contained in one word. "Your kind must not be allowed to live!"

But hadn't Yuan been for equality? Hadn't Yuan wanted the same thing Lloyd had?

"How far are you willing to go to take control of the mana?" Kratos' hand was on his sword, eyes narrowed to slits.

"I'll never forgive you…You humans are all the same!" Mithos' fists were clenched, one on his sister's skirt and the other resting on his knee. The latter was glowing a dull, pale light, one that Lloyd had come to recognize from seeing Mithos attack so many times.

"I'm not here!" Lloyd shouted in alarm. Kratos' sword was drawn, Yuan's outstretched hand crackling with energy and he wouldn't be able to win against them all. He'd hardly been able to win against one of them! "Mithos…Yuan…Dad! I was never here!"

"_Lloyd!"_ Colette's voice spoke urgently. _ "We're inside Mithos' memories! Don't let it get to you!"_

Abruptly, Lloyd is once again standing before Colette and Mithos'…ghost?...for lack of a better term. "Why do you interfere?" Mithos was asking and Lloyd wants to think that there might be some desperate light in those blue-green eyes. "We both want the same thing! I just wanted to save the world and my sister! To have a world where no one will be persecuted!"

Lloyd can't concentrate on where Mithos' spirit disappeared to because he's too worried about Colette. He grabs her by the shoulders, searching her eyes and face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Colette allows his inspection, eyes darting over her body in search for any sign of an injury. "Thanks for rescuing me. I knew you'd come."

"Of course I would." Lloyd smiles at her, worry niggling at the back of his mind over the others caught in the Derris Emblem trap. "We made a promise, didn't we? That we'd go on a journey together. One less…eventful."

Lloyd tugs at the Mithos' Cruxis Crystal on her necklace. "Looks like it won't come off."

"Yeah, but…I think its okay. The feeling of something eating through my mind is gone now. But…where are the others? Weren't they with you?"

"They were, but they got caught in a trap and we all wound up separated. We have to find them. Come on!"

-///----//-----///-----///

"Be careful! It's an illusion!" But it looks so _real!_

"You think that I'm an illusion? This is precisely why everyone always says half-elves are fools!" The mayor's image in the mirror said angrily.

His words make it a little easier for Raine to believe that this was an illusion. She'd never heard of anyone with elven blood being a fool. But that's when she sees the image in the mirror directly in front of her. It's almost like looking in a real mirror because hadn't she and her mother always looked alike and _"My daughter…you're looking to be so much like your mother…my darling Raine…"_

"Raine…my pitiful child…" Virginia's voice isn't like Raine remembers it. It is slow and quiet, but somehow retaining a childish tone to it and it hurts more than anyone could possibly know to see Virginia holding the little doll. _"This is my daughter, Raine. I'll be having another soon…If it's a girl, I'll call her Jean. And if it's a boy, he'll be named Genis. Aren't they just lovely names?"_ "A tainted child who received only half of her elven blood."

"Half-elves have no place in this world!" Iselia's mayor declares.

And Genis, her little brother, so brave and fragilestrong… "That's not true!"

"It is because you are despicable halflings that I was chased from Heimdall." Raine struggles to remember her anger at her mother, fights to remember Lloyd's words over this entire trip, but she can't. All she can hear is her mother's slow, steady voice…

"Then why did you give birth to us?" Raine asked, her voice shakier than she can ever remember it being.

"There probably was no choice." The mayor interrupts and Raine wants to feel the anger she should, wants to be able to yell at him because she wants to hear the answer from her mother, no one else. "That's why you were thrown away after you were born! You should die! There is no meaning for you to live."

"Disappear, Raine…disappear…"

Raine isn't sure if her brother is speaking to her or not. "Humans and elves…neither side wants us…"

"That's right." The mayor says. "No one wants you."

"No, you're wrong!" It's a voice, so wonderfully familiar from years of hearing it while she was teaching. In the remaining mirror, far to Raine's left, appears Lloyd and in the other, on her right, is Mithos. Two sides of the same coin…

"No, they are no wrong." Mithos says in that quiet voice of his. "Half-elves are despised and discriminated against for merely being alive!"

"It's not the half-elves' fault! People who can't accept those who are different are the ones to blame! It's because of their weak hearts!" There is the loud shattering of glass and Lloyd has a hand on both of their shoulders. He has small cuts all along his cheeks and neck and there are small pieces of glass in his hair, but he is _solid_ and _real_. "Hey you two. I came to get you. We should go and find the others."

"It's hopeless, Raine. You'll just be abandoned again." Raine can barely make out the image of her mother because of the cracks in the glass. "As long as you're a half-elf, the world will continue to hate you."

"Lloyd…he came for us. Even though he could have left us behind to go face Mithos."

"You'll just be betrayed again…"

"Maybe you're right. Then again, you may be wrong. It wasn't because of my blood that you abandoned Genis and me. It was because of a world that hates my blood and a mother who was too weak to stand up against it. I'm going to try and stop hating that weakness. My hatred never changed anything. If I wish to change the world, I must first…change myself." Raine smiles a little and Lloyd, and it's a little shaky, but it's there. "I'm glad I was born a half-elf. It was because of it that I met Lloyd and my other dear friends."

"Genis…do you feel the same?" Mithos is still in the glass and Raine thinks that his broken image finally reflects the brokenness of the mind. "Are you glad you were born a half-elf?"

"…Because humans hate us, I hate humans." Genis already knows that Lloyd is going to protest and he wishes he weren't telling the truth. "But I like you, Lloyd, as well as everyone we traveled with." Even if Zelos had been a pain sometimes. "Because I think they all like me. I'm the same as everyone else. I get mad at humans and elves just for being who they are. That's only going to make them hate me more. My heart was weak too."

Mithos looks at these people, these almost, once-upon-a-time friends. "Not everyone can be strong. Not everyone can stand being despised. Does that make it a sin to be weak-hearted?"

-///----///----//

"Do you hear a strange sound?" Sheena always looked pale in Welgaia, her hair startlingly dark against her skin. Zelos didn't know why she looked pale, for in truth her skin was gently brown. "Like a clicking kind of sound?"

Zelos shakes his head. He doesn't know why she can hear it and he can't (he does have angelic senses after all) but there is a new sound. Not a clicking, but rather a low whooshing. He and Sheena look down at the same instant, shadows curling around their ankles.

"We'll be sucked into the magic circle!" Sheena exclaims and Zelos tries to recognize the circle, but there is a dark whirlpool in the center of the circle and he can only stare, transfixed, at it.

"We need to get the hell out of here!"

Sheena's trying to jerk her leg out of the shadow's grip. "Like I didn't know that!"

Something below them caught Zelos' eye. "Sheena…what's that?"

"What's the matter, Sheena?" Sheena's heart chilled at the voice she'd known since childhood and raised her eyes as she ran to escape the whirlpool. Kuchinawa was standing there, just beyond the shadows' reach, looking the same as the day she'd last seen him. "You'll be caught unless you hurry up and run."  
"Such a pathetic sigh you make, Zelos." Zelos' entire being stuttered in that instant because she couldn't possibly be here, not in this place that was so interwoven with their journey, a journey that Zelos had wanted to keep Seles away from.

"It's gotta be an illusion." Zelos says, trying very hard to keep his calm. "There's no way that these two would be here now."

"You're so stupid." Seles kneeled, her pale red hair falling over her shoulder. It was getting so long...Zelos had seen that she'd needed a haircut when he'd stopped by to get his Cruxis Crystal. Seles had always hated having long hair. "You've shut your eyes to reality for so long that you can't even tell what's real anymore."

"And you…you grew up in Mizuho, yet you can't even tell if I'm real or an illusion? You really are a failure."

"So sad…how did someone so unworthy become the Chosen? It's no wonder he betrayed his friends" Sheena glanced over at Zelos, watched his steps falter and his face drain of color.

"Neither of you should be here. Everyone would have been so much happier had you not been born! You brought misfortune on the people of Mizuho!"

"I-I haven't brought misfortune to—" Sheena wonders what's wrong with her voice, stuttering and pitchy as it is right now. Her steps are stumbling, her calves beginning to burn.

Kuchinawa crouched before her, his dark brown eyes glinting cruelly. "Are you really able to say that? After you, the coward, trembled before Volt and killed your comrades?"

"One betrayed your friends, coming back shamelessly," Zelos flinched, "And the other killed the people of her village...such a fitting end."

"Now, if you think you can run, run! If you don't escape those shadows, you'll be devoured by the darkness and die."

"Dammit!" Zelos' feet are aching and all he can think of is home and its old films and the warm blankets in the snowy winter. "We're going to be eaten by that monster down there unless we do something!"

"Would you like me to _save_ you, Zelos?" Seles asks, the sweetheart's smile not matching the look in her eyes, eyes that were silvery blue to Zelos' icy hue. "You would have to beg for our forgiveness and pledge loyalty to Cruxis."

"That monster will bestow eternal suffering upon you." Zelos and Sheena don't want to look back to see the face that matches the smooth voice that they've learned to recognize. "You will be trapped in true darkness, tormented in isolation forever."

"Forever…?" Sheena feels like the last few weeks, the last few days even, ever since Zelos had betrayed them, had been forever. She can't imagine it being any longer.

"I can save you." Yggdrasill's voice sounds much closer than Sheena is sure he is. "Join us and defeat Lloyd. Then it will all be over."

"Lord Mithos has agreed to let the people of Mizuho live."

"And he'll remove the title and duties of the Chosen from you, Zelos, and transfer everything over to me. Just the way it should always have been, if not for an accident of birth. What I've wanted more than anything else…the power of the Chosen. You'll let me have it, won't you big brother?"

"She'll be the Chosen…instead of me…" He could live life how he wanted, live a normal life away from the nobles and the Pope, could live his life in a small town, like he'd always envied Lloyd and the others for.

"Yes…just imagine it. Your life will finally have meaning and value and all you'd have to do is pledge your allegiance to me." Zelos can remember why it was so easy to betray everyone. Yggdrasill's voice was so believable… "As soon as you do that, you'll be saved from the shadow's grasp."

"Listen to me, both of you!" They knew that voice, knew it so, so well. "I've come for you guys! I'm down below!"

"Whoa, hold it. The only thing down there is that monster!" Zelos says.

"Lloyd, please don't tell me you were eaten by that monster!" Sheena is looking for any sign of her friend, but can't see any sign of him, can't see his outfit bright as ripe cherries or his hair that was the color of coffee with milk.

"That Lloyd is the real illusion. The monster is mimicking his voice to lure you." Yggdrasill said.

"I'm not an illusion!" Lloyd protested. "Do you think it's better for the people of Mizuho to be part of the Age of Lifeless Beings? Do you think it's alright for Seles to become the next Chosen, who could be sacrificed at any time?" The spider image wavered and Sheena caught the barest glimpse of Lloyd. "You guys have to decide for yourselves, but I have faith in you. I know you won't run away, even if what we're trying to do seems difficult or impossible. Don't forget that your lives have value just by being alive and being there!"

"Just by being alive…my life has value?" Sheena said it as though she'd never considered such a thing.

"Even a traitor like me has value?"

"Of course not." Yggdrasill scoffed. "No life has value just by being alive."

"Shut up! There's a significance in being born, but if that's not good enough for you, I'll give them another value. They're valuable because they're my friends!"

Zelos laughs and it sounds like pieces of broken glass. "That's a pretty pathetic value, but I suppose it'll do."

"You know what I wish for and yet you still reject his offer?"

"Sorry, but I got no choice. The guy who decided my value believes in me and tells me not to run, so I'm not running anymore. I, the sorta valuable Zelos, trust you Lloyd!" And his legs were hurting something fierce, so he stops running, letting the shadows pull him closer until he's in the very center and being dropped, rather unceremoniously, onto his back down below. Not a moment later, Sheena dropped right on top of him, her elbow smashing into his gut.

The next instant, her hands are clutching at his vest, her nose is buried in his collarbone and she's shaking. Zelos instinctively wraps an arm around her because that's what he used to do with Seles when she ran into his room because of nightmares. And for Sheena, having stared into Kuchinawa's face as he spat her sins back at her was as much of a nightmare as she could get.

"You're alright, darling. You're alright." He murmurs and for once, it isn't a lie.

-///-----////-------//////----------//////---------//////

The cell door swings open on squeaky hinges.

"Could it be a trap?" Regal asks Presea lowly. She did have the more analytical mind, after all.

"Even if it is, to remain here indefinitely would not be particularly helpful. We should search for Lloyd."

They both freeze at the sight of the person just beyond the walkway. She's smiling, her pink hair curly in her pigtails. She stood with perfect posture, and her blue eyes sparkled. "I'm so glad you two are safe!"

"It's Alicia…but…that's impossible…It must be an illusion. Alicia is…dead!"

"…She was murdered…" Presea murmurs quietly. Regal knows that it isn't her intention to bring up his worst sin, but the reminder rips at his heartstrings.

"Then what am I, Presea? My very own sister insists I'm dead even though I'm right in front of you both, breathing and very much alive. It's true…Regal did murder me. But I'm here, alive. Isn't that enough?"

Alicia gives a little shriek as Regal moves forward, intending to break the illusion. Presea runs in between. "We…we don't know for certain that it is an illusion." Because she can hear her beloved sister's voice and it has the same cadence, the same rhythm as it always had. Even since they were children. Or, since Alicia was a child. "If you don't stop, Regal…" Presea held her ax in a ready position, staring Regal down.

"Regal, I can't believe you would try to kill me again…"

He wants to believe she's real. Wants to believe that nothing in the past few years was real and that he and Alicia were still in love and she'd never ever been chosen for those Exsphere experiments. But he also feels the weight of the shackles around his wrists which are slightly red from where the cuffs chafe against his skin and he knows that she isn't real. "Silence, phantom! Presea, move."

"If you wish to kill Alicia, you must kill me first." Because Presea hadn't been able to protect her little sister the first time. She wouldn't fail again.

"Stop it, the both of you!"

Everyone takes a step back, hearing the voice float because there was no physical body from which it could have come from. But they still see a slowly spreading, small pool of blood forming at their feet and there is the metallic scent that accompanies it.

"That's Lloyd's voice…could this be an illusion as well?" Regal wonders aloud, mind working quickly to try and solve this.

Presea frowned at the blood, bright red as tomatoes and ripe grapefruits. "But…there's blood…"

Alicia's voice is at her back. "I feel an evil presence from that blood. Please, be careful, Presea!"

"It doesn't matter what's real!" Lloyd said, frustrated. "Why the hell are you fighting against each other? You're supposed to be friends!" Lloyd's body appeared before them, kneeling in a pool of his blood.

"You…aren't an illusion?" Regal asked hesitantly. Everything had been seeming to real to be certain.

"Why did you stop attacking?" Alicia asked. "Don't you hate the man who murdered me? And Regal…why won't you let yourself be killed? You've always felt guilty about killing me, after all. This is your chance to end it all."  
Mithos appeared Alicia. His eyes seemed to glow with Alicia's bright hair so near. "It's for the best. You can't feel guilty after you've been killed. And if you were to kill him, you'd have your revenge. Crimes must be met with punishment."  
"Get ahold of yourselves! Don't start confusing who it is that you should be fighting! Dying won't settle anything! Killing won't solve anything."

"That is merely logic. People are not moved by logic. If the one you love is killed, you hate the murderer," Lloyd knew that Mithos must know that better than almost anyone. "And murderers must be punished."

"But if you keep killing people like that, it'll only spawn new hate and new revenge. It'll never stop! Besides, it's just running away if you die. You'd forget the murder and the pain of that crime."

"And my feelings?" Alicia asked. "Don't they matter? You murdered me."

"It is true that Alicia died, but I also know that she didn't want things to end up like this. What you're both doing is selfish." Lloyd is beginning to turn pale beneath his light brown skin from the blood loss. Regal glances around, hoping to find Raine or Zelos, someone to heal Lloyd. He finds them both across the walkway, looking a bit shaken perhaps on Genis and Sheena's parts, but all intact.

"You are…the real Lloyd." Regal said slowly, still watching Alicia through the corner of his vision.

"And that means that Alicia is a fake." Presea's grip on her ax slackened a little. "Alicia wouldn't say things like that."

Alicia backs up a step, eyes widening. "Are you…going to kill me?"

Lloyd rises, perhaps a little unsteadily, to his feet. "Stop deceiving my friends!" He says, voice quite firm as his sword goes right through her and would have hit Mithos had he not disappeared as well as Alicia.

"I'm sorry." Regal said, offering his arms as steady help up as Raine dashes across the walkway. "I lost the will to atone for my sins by taking comfort in the feeling of being punished. Death isn't a punishment. Punishment is living with your crime and working to atone for it."

"I…I closed off my heart." Presea belted the ax back into place. "And turned away from people who were only trying to atone for their crimes because it is easier to hate than to forgive. I will stop allowing myself to be trapped in the past. We cannot, after all, seek a new world while dragging the past along."

Sheena isn't sure if she's only imagining the echo of Mithos' voice in this vast place, but no one else seems able to hear a thing. "And thus you forget the past, the countless lives that were lost and the pain of those that suffered. Crimes must be met with punishment."

-///-----///-------///--//

Mithos' castle had a certain dark beauty. The entrance hall, with its glass floors that made you feel as though you were either about to fall into space or you were standing on top of the world, was almost disappointingly empty. With all that space, there should have been bookshelves and tables with comfortable chairs, but then Sheena remembers—Age of _Life_less Beings—and it doesn't seem so strange anymore.

The only sign of life at all was the dragon at the top of the stairs. He must have once been fearsome, but captivity and long centuries had made him not look nearly as frightening as he might once have been. The scales that must have once glittered ebony were now faded and dull; its wings emaciated from too long of a time spent trapped indoors.

"I am the gatekeeper!" He said, his voice like a rumble of thunder. "Those who would open the gate, stand forth and destroy me!"

The gatekeeper is ridiculously easy to kill for it had no mobility at the top of the stairs and truly, it just looked tired. As though it was sick of fighting and wished only to see the mountains of his homeland, wherever that might be.

"Mithos is just ahead." Lloyd said. "The Great Seed should be there too." He turned around to look at these people who were just as good as family now. They hadn't known each other, for the most part, for even six months, but when you had to spend every day in the company of such people. Sharing dreams, fears, and even clothes sometimes, they become so close to you. It was, in fact, difficult for Lloyd to think about life without these people. Without Sheena's gentle teasing, Colette's support, Raine's teachings, Presea's (sometimes surprising) insight; Regal's mature experience, Genis' sarcasm, Zelos' comments. He simply couldn't imagine it.

"This is it, everyone. Are we ready?"

Raine nodded. "I'm prepared to accept whatever happens in the coming battle and we will win."

"We're gonna win. For Mizuho, Corrine and all of you who believed in a coward like me."

"I don't want anyone to make the same mistakes I did." Colette says. "No one should think that they have the right to sacrifice their own life."

"No matter who they are, everyone should have the right to live freely. Humans, elves and even us…it's okay for us to be here."

"Yes. And that is why we must recover the Great Seed from Mithos and revive the Giant Tree. Without it, not only will peace not be restored between the different races…"

"But the world itself will die as well." Presea finished for Regal. "We cannot allow that to happen. We must reunite the two worlds and afterwards make a new promise to the new world."

"…The people I like and the people I don't like," Zelos began. He had no ability for poetic words. Not when he meant what he said. "They both have the right to live in the same world that I do because that's the way things should be. Count me in." Zelos glanced at Sheena, who wasn't quite meeting his eyes. "I'm not running from this one."

-//---///----//

"Home…I'm going home…" It was a litany, repeated over and over in that mesmerizing voice.

"Mithos, please, listen to me!" Genis pleaded his once-friend. "We don't have to fight! Just please, return the Great Seed to us so we can reunite the world!"

"There's something wrong." Lloyd said. "He sounds like a puppet."

There was a strong, red glow that made all of their eyes follow it as it floated up towards Yggdrasill, whose eyes snapped open. "I need to thank you for going through all of the trouble to bring me back here. I'm finally myself again."

"Mithos…Martel is already dead." Lloyd said quietly, remembering all that he'd seen in Mithos' memories.

"That's not true. She is alive. In just the same way as I lived on in the Cruxis Crystal."

"That's not living." Lloyd protested. "That's just existing as a lifeless being."

"What's wrong with that?" Lloyd couldn't believe what he was hearing. Didn't Yggdrasill miss the scent of grass after a rainstorm, the taste of his favorite foods? The warmth of a fire and the way you ran to avoid rain with your friends, even when no one minded getting wet. "In our bodies flow the blood of humans and elves—those that despise us. We are better off casting aside such filth and becoming lifeless beings."

"And that's what you really want?"

"Of course!" It was a little disturbing to hear Mithos' voice from Yggdrasill's lips. "When you become a lifeless being, you can even control your appearance and growth." Yggdrasill flickered into Mithos. The only thing that didn't change was his hair color and the look in the blue-green eyes. "Everyone should become lifeless beings. I've told you this before; the only way to eliminate discrimination is for everyone to become the same race."

"What your hoping for is nothing but a dream, Mithos. Discrimination comes from the heart."

"He's right, Mithos." Genis agreed. "It's the weakness of people's hearts that causes discrimination. Looking down on others while placing themselves too high!"

"You do the same thing!" Sheena accused. "You look down on humans and elves, treating them like cattle! That's the weakness of _your _heart."

"Even if people did become lifeless beings, nothing would change. Discrimination would continue." Regal said.

"Then where should the half-elves go?" Mithos asked, spreading his hands. "We aren't accepted anywhere. We opened our hearts, but no one took us in. Where should we live?"

"You can live anywhere you like." Lloyd told him.

"…Don't make me laugh."

"I'm being serious. Anywhere is fine. If you aren't doing anything wrong, you should just live proudly in the open."

"It's all because we couldn't do that…that I, that we wanted a place of our own!"

Zelos shook his head. "Don't start with that. You're not the only victim here." Because he can remember the charred remains of Ozette's people, Seles trapped in the Abbey, the half-elven researchers at the Imperial Research Academies. "It doesn't come anywhere near to justifying the things that you've done."

"What you have done has caused meaningless suffering and death to countless people." Presea said. "Can you feel their pain or have you become too numb to care?"

"People can change." Raine told Mithos. "Even if they don't change right away. Months…years…as time passes, change is inevitable." She had seen it in the few months that they'd all traveled together. The way that everyone grew up and discovered so many things about themselves.

"Perhaps not everything can be forgiven," Collete says, "But sometimes things don't need to be. You just have to try to atone for your sins. The Goddess known as conscience—"

Mithos chuckled, the sound bitter. "You honestly think that I would beg for forgiveness? Ridiculous. There is no Goddess. I will continue to pursue my ideals. If there is no place where I can live and I've been denied my Age of Lifeless Beings, that means the only thing left to do is build a new world on Derris-Kharlan. A world only for my sister and me!"

His wings spread and they were not the dark pink that they'd seen on Yggdrasill. These encompassed all of the colors from brilliantly bright candy apple reds to yellows that looked like sunlight to blue as dark as the sea.

Mithos ducked and wove through their attacks smoothly, his magic bright enough to blind them momentarily sometimes. As he blocked Lloyd's sword strikes with an open palm, the other hand counterattacking with magic, Lloyd could see some techniques that he himself had learned from Kratos.

Light rained from the sky at Mithos' command, the ground split open from the force of the spells that Genis, Zelos and Mithos were using. Sheena's summons would shield them; their attacks making their very bones shake.

Lloyd is slashing at Mithos when the angel's skin began to mutate, spines growing from his back as the wings disappeared. The spikes became almost like a crest, several floating shields circling him. Four long appendages, almostlike arms, were bony and colored like pale lavender. In a bubble, Lloyd could just barely make out Mithos' face.

The arms would grab them, choking them until they were rescued by someone else. The magic circles that would form beneath Mithos' new, odd form were increasingly complex and the spells would slowly come closer and closer to hitting them.

They're all panting and breathing far too hard and fast, leaning on each other as they stare at all that is now left of Mithos. A floating Cruxis Crystal and his ghostly spirit.

"It is just like Alicia." Presea said. "Mithos will continue to live as long as the Cruxis Crystal exists."

"And eventually…I will be taken over by the Crystal." Mithos finished, exhaustion in his voice.

"Mithos…" But Lloyd didn't know what he had wanted to say. Perhaps he wanted to suggest that Mithos could live with them, in their world. Or perhaps there were words that Mithos wanted said to Yuan and Kratos.

"I'm tired of playing your game of good and evil. Hurry up and destroy the crystal. If you don't, Derris-Kharlan will continue to float away. Do it now! Before I, too…am no longer myself."

"Lloyd, please…help him!" Genis asked his best friend. "Let him die while he's still himself!"

Lloyd nodded, walking slowly to where Mithos' spirit still floated. Mithos watched him come closer, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Farewell, my shadow. You who stand at the end of the path I chose not to follow. I wanted my own world, so I don't regret my choice. I would make the same choice all over again…I will continue to choose this path."

Lloyd brought his blade down upon the Crystal, its sparkling shards scattering across the floor and throwing exotic-colored lights in every direction. "You, you could have lived with us in our world."

Lloyd stared in awe as his swords, the ones from both fathers, began to glow, merging together until one violet sword was in front of him.

_The old master of the pact is dead_, The voice sounded somewhat like Origin, but something about it was different. Perhaps the rhythm of it, or the way of speaking…it was something Lloyd couldn't quite put his finger on. _What does the new master ask of this sword?_

Lloyd raised the sword over his head. "Restore the true form of our two worlds!"

A white light, brighter than anything they'd seen before, brighter than Mithos or Luna could have produced, shone at the cracks of the earth. Sheena gasped, heart clenching painfully. All of the Summon Spirits, she could feel their boundaries reforming, their power changing and spreading, making Sheena feel thin and stretched. Zelos put a hand out to steady her, but she didn't take any notice.

The next thing they knew, they were back on the ground before what used to be the Tower of Salvation. They hung onto each other as the earth rumbled beneath them. "What's going on?"

The Summon Spirits, all nine of the elementals, appeared around them. Sheena looked around at them, glad to feel the pain in her heart easing. "What are you all doing here?"

_Your wish is granted_. _But there is no link. Without the link, the land will die. The world was originally split into two to prevent its destruction. If it returns to its true form, the world lacks the mana to support itself. The land…is dying._

"We don't need to know the why! What can we do to stop it!" Lloyd asked.

_Support the two worlds by linking them with the Giant Tree. That is the only way to stop the destruction of the land._

"Lloyd, you have to hurry!" Colette told him. "You have to shoot the mana of Derris-Kharlan on the Great Seed before Derris-Kharlan drifts too far away!"

"I'm counting on you, Eternal Sword."

_Derris-Kharlan is already at the edge of the gravitational field. Not even Yggdrasill…Mithos…could stop this from happening. Do you still intend to try? Even strengthened as you are by your Exsphere, it is likely that your body will not withstand the forces. Are you still certain of your decision?_

"I said I'm doing it, so I'm doing it. It's not like we have much of a choice!"

…_Very well._

"…It's not working! The mana's being deflected!"

Colette stared up at the sky as though she could see what was wrong even from here. "The Great Seed is…already dead."

All Lloyd could think about was everyone's hopes were on them. And not only were their hopes, their very lives depending on them, but he didn't want to have done all this and suffered so much only to have failed. A pale blue light glowed and Lloyd's eyes were automatically drawn towards its source, his Exsphere.

"Wait! Don't go!" Lloyd isn't sure who he'd pleading with, but he hopes that who or whatever it is, that they can hear him. "Please wake up!"

Lloyd isn't totally aware of it when he feels the warm rush of mana, but he can hear everyone's gasp of shock and that's when he sees the wings. They're a beautiful pale blue that Lloyd can only remember seeing in Kratos' wings. But there's a memory tugging at him, of small, chubby hands (his own?) reaching up and gently grasping soft blue feathers. But Lloyd's wings are longer than any they've seen so far, and span almost seven feet in either direction.

It's almost instinctive to fly, although its uncomfortably odd to feel muscles in his shoulder blades that he hadn't known he had moving without real conscious thought. The next thing he knows, he's hundreds of feet off the ground and rising, watching the figures of his friends shrink.

Lloyd can see the Great Seed floating above the clouds. He bends to look a little closer at the Seed, not sure what he should be looking for. He knows he's not the one that should be figuring it out, but he's the only one up here. He feels a warm hand grasp his own and he looks beside him.

Colette is right beside him, her own wings out, and he feels much better now that there's someone else, especially Colette, up here beside him. "It looks like Derris-Kharlan stopped moving away." She said.

"But why? The Eternal Sword is gone." A soft hum accompanies the appearance of the violet sword. "The Eternal Sword!" They both grasp the hilt. "This is my final wish, Eternal Sword…please, awaken the Great Seed! I beg you, please! Wake up!"

"Rise, Giant Kharlan Tree!"

They watch the Seed descend and follow it, though the wind currents throw them off and make them slow as they were not yet accustomed to them. The Seed disappears below them, its petals swirling around someone they can't see. When the petals fade away and they're touching down, they can see the person.

The woman is lovely. There are leaves woven into the long, pale green hair. Her eyes are the emerald green of summer plants. The woman holds a long, whitewood staff. "I am Martel," She says, her voice quiet and gentle, though there is a hint of strength behind her words. "And also the incarnation of the Great Seed itself. Your hope and the hope of many others has resurrected me."

"Wait, so…you're Mithos' sister?" Lloyd asks. The woman looks like Mithos' sister Martel, the one he saw in Mithos' memories.

The woman, Martel (How odd it is to think of her as Martel, when, for so long, they've known Martel as either a Goddess or a sister long since dead) shakes her head. "No. Mithos' sister Martel is only one of many souls inside of me. I am mana and I am the Giant Tree. I am a symbol of the many lives sacrificed to the Great Seed. I am a new Spirit, born to accompany the Giant Tree and now the Seed has awakened anew, along with me."

It is only now that Lloyd looks around Martel that he can see the small seedling in the middle of the ruins of the Tower of Salvation. But even as they watch, the seedling grows at an incredible rate. Its bark becomes knotted, its branches thick and strong. It's enormous, seeming to wish to rival the heavens themselves.

"This is…the Giant Kharlan Tree?"

"It's…so beautiful and…so grand!"

"This is the future form of the Giant Tree. For now, it is as you saw it; a small seedling. In its current state, the Tree will wither and die."

"How do we protect it?" Lloyd wants to see this Tree like this forever, wants to see this Tree become a symbol as the Tower of Salvation was a symbol for the people of both worlds for so long.

"You must provide the Tree with love and adoration. As long as those conditions are met, I will always protect this Tree."

"I promise, if the Tree ever starts to wither, I'll make sure that we'll never let it die!" Lloyd vowed. He doesn't want this terrible cycle to begin again, doesn't want another Mithos, doesn't want to see war and droughts. Doesn't want to see people suffer anymore.

Martel nodded, pleased. She liked the look of this young man, liked the feel of him. "Lloyd, then on behalf of all living things, you must give this tree a new name as proof of the pact. The Giant Kharlan Tree was planted here by the elves when they first came as a guardian to watch over and protect them. This newly reborn Tree protects elves, humans and all those caught in between. Therefore, this Tree requires a new name."

Colette's hand is suddenly in his and she's smiling at him. "Lloyd, pick a name for us. A name for everyone's Tree."

Lloyd returns the smile fondly. He doesn't think they could have ever gotten this far without her as his support, as well as the others. "So, this Tree is the link that connects the world…" How odd it was to say the 'world'. Singular. For what seems like forever, it has been world_s_. He casts his mind around, searching for something that could fit, but all he can hear are the voices of the people. Those he loves and those he doesn't, the people that go about their lives and make their own stories and household legends, creating an incredible symphony. "I got it! This Tree's name is…"


	15. Of Banshees, Endings and Mutual Weirdnes

**Disclaimer**: Don't own Tales of Symphonia.

**Author's Note**: The last chapter! (Finally) It feels like I've been writing this forever and at the same time for not long at all. Been watching and reading Memoirs of a Geisha lately—one of my favorite books and movies. If you get a chance to watch/read it, please do—and I have to rewrite Cinderella using cultural elements. My culture was the Celtics, a seriously fascinating culture. If anyone's got any info on them, please share!

I want to thank everyone who's kept up with this! I think you guys are all simply fantastical and I am willing to take requests, if anyone wants me to write something for them.

-/---///-----/////---

_We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person. ~W. Somerset Maugham_

---///----///

It takes longer than it should have to find Mizuho now that the worlds had been joined. It's as if the worlds had been squished together like lumps of clay, their features merging and creating new mountains and valleys. Zelos flies to the highest mountain he can find to try and find landmarks. He can see the Triet Desert over there and he'd passed by Flanoir, but beyond that, he's lost.

He finally finds Iselia, nestled away in its small corner of the world—he still stumbles over that word sometimes, he's become so used to saying the worlds, or Sylvarant and Tethe'alla—and finds Lloyd assisting, as Zelos knew he would be, with the rebuilding efforts from the fires that the Desians had started.

Lloyd smiles when he sees him and brushes off his gloved hands on his pants. "Hey, Zelos! What brings you all the way over here?"

It's a hard thing to ask because it's _Lloyd_ and Zelos should have been the one who had this piece of information. "Has Sheena told you where Mizuho got moved to?" He attempts a smile and is sure that it comes out more as a grimace. "Mizuho is really living up to its ninja name; I can't find it and I've looked everywhere."  
"I think it's near Sybak now, though Sheena told me that they're planning to move closer to the Tree so that they can help watch over it."

It makes sense to Zelos' mind and he wonders why he hadn't thought of Sybak first. Since Ozette had been destroyed, it was the closest town to Mizuho, so logically they'd be nearby. "Wasn't that Yuan's job?"

"It is, but Yuan said something about wanting to explore this new world. I think maybe he just wants to see if it's the same world that was there before Mithos…" It's still difficult to think about what had happened in Derris-Kharlan, still painful for Lloyd.

Zelos nodded. "Thanks, Lloyd." As he turns to walk away, Lloyd asks if he wants to join him for dinner at Dirk's house. "Nah, I'm good. I need to find Mizuho before tonight. It'll be too dark to find it later."

Lloyd smiled and said he understood. And he did. He knew that Zelos wanted to talk to Sheena, but if he didn't do it soon, he'd lose the nerve.

--//-------////-------------//////---------///

"You have a great deal of nerve to be coming back here so shamelessly.'

Zelos didn't need Orochi to tell him that and Orochi knows it. Orochi was standing by the village gate, as loyal a guard and right hand man as ever.

"You know why I'm here, Orochi," Zelos said, "And it's not to cause any trouble."

Orochi had been anticipating this visit after he'd heard from Sheena about what had happened towards the end of their jounrey and he knows that, more likely than not, it would not end well for either Zelos or Sheena.

"I meant no offense, Chosen--"

"There isn't a Chosen anymore." Zelos interrupts.

"I apologize. What else should I call you? I do not know you well enough to call you by your first name."

And Zelos didn't even know Orochi's real name and that thought instantly brings to mind the conversation on their way to the Lightning Temple. _Violent Demonic Banshee. _"I just want to talk to her."

Orochi observes the man before him. They had known each other before this whole mess began and he knows the look in the steely blue eyes. "I can see that there is no stopping you. Please, come with me."

Mizuho was more lively than Zelos had ever seen it. Crates of food were stacked up against the walls, piles of folded blankets beside them. They should have been planting the season's crops—strawberries, tomatoes and rice—but the fields were unsown. _Mizuho wishes to move to Sylvarant._ There was no longer a Sylvarant or a Tethe'alla. Moving was a matter of safety now, since too many people could possibly know Mizuho's location thanks to Kuchinawa.

Orochi slides open the screen door, but does not enter. "Chief! A visitor to see you."

Chief. How could Zelos have forgotten that she was the Chief now? Or had he simply not wanted to think about it?

"Bring them in, Orochi."

The Chief's hut was in much the same disarray as the rest of the village. Boxes were packed and clothing strewn about. The scrolls on the wall had been carefully folded up, the bookshelves empty of their contents.

And in the midst of it all was **her. **She'd put her hair up in a messy ponytail and she wore a _yukata_. Zelos hadn't often seen her in the light, summer robes that were decorated with pale blue flowers on a white background. Corrine's bell jingled from where it was tied to the dark blue obi.

Sheena looked up from packing to face the visitor. When she saw who it was, her face very quickly became an unfamiliar mask, her hazel eyes cool. "And what brings you all the way to Mizuho?"

Orochi quickly retreated from the room. He had no place in this conversation.

"An apology." Zelos said honestly.

"An apology that won't be accepted."

Pretending it didn't sting, Zelos then asked, "…And an explanation? Will that be accepted?"

Sheena crossed her arms across her stomach, shifting her weight to one leg. "Go ahead then. Let's hear your excuses."

Zelos wanted to reach for his dagger, wanted to feel its familiar weight rolling across his fingertips. But he hadn't brought it because he hadn't wanted Mizuho's huargs to perceive him as a threat. Not that he needed a weapon to be a threat. His magic was more than enough for most enemies these days.

"The only reason," Zelos caught the look on her face and amended himself. "Okay, the main reason why I did all that I did was because I wanted Seles to get out of that damned Abbey."

"So you're telling me that the whole not-being-the-Chosen thing had no appeal to you whatsoever?"

Zelos ducked his head, letting his hair fall forward so that he could hide behind it. It was the first time Sheena had ever seen him do that. "…It did. It was…more tempting than you can possibly know. You know I never asked for this, right. To be a Chosen. To be a member of high society. I…would have given anything to be able to live like everyone else."

Sheena did know that, had known it all. She'd known how much he'd hated it, had known how much he'd loved his sister and hated her being stuck in a place like the Southeast Abbey when she had done nothing to deserve it.

And Zelos had given anything—had given his loyalty, his friendship, his trust.

"Since when?" She asked.

His brow creased. "I thought I'd told you ab—"

"Not that." Sheena said. "Since when were you working with Cruxis? Was it like Pronyma said? From the very beginning?"

"Yes. Since before you guys came to Tethe'alla. Pronyma came to the mansion one afternoon and told me that there was a way to be released from the title of Chosen of Mana. And I agreed. It was the next day that I found out that Lloyd and everyone had come to Tethe'alla."

"…It was that easy, huh?"

Zelos' head snapped up to look at her, hands gripping the doorframe. Without a thought, his rage letting the magic flow, making the door explode. Sheena jumped and Zelos wanted to smile bitterly. He'd created a tight bubble shield around the door. He wouldn't do anything to physically hurt her. But that small explosion was enough to turn his temper from ice to fire, so he snapped the leash on it. "_Damn you,_ but I thought you were dead, Sheena! I thought you'd been kidnapped or trapped in Sylvarant! I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." She said icily.

Zelos' eyes narrowed. "You can be in denial all you want, but you know as well as I do that you can't kill someone in cold blood."

He was right. They both knew that Sheena hadn't been expected to succeed. "I had Lloyd deliver a letter to the King in my name! How could I have been dead?"

Zelos ran an agitated hand through his hair. "I—How do you expect me to explain it? All I knew was that you'd been gone for three months in an entirely different world and then these guys show up with a letter from you, but you're not there! I didn't know what to think!"

"You never do."  
"…Will you tell me the reason that you won't accept my apology?"

"I've told you already. There's something you just don't do and betraying your friends is one of them!"

"You didn't seem to have that problem with Kratos, now did you?" Zelos snapped.

"He didn't go and kiss me before he betrayed us, now did he?"

Zelos stilled. "…Is that what you're angry about?"

"An understatement, but yes."

Zelos opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it once more to tentatively ask, "I'm sorry. Are you mad because I kissed you or because I betrayed you right afterwards?"

Sheena shook her head and uncrossed her arms. "I'm done, Zelos."

"What?"

"I'm asking you to leave. I won't ask again."

Zelos knew full well exactly how she could make him leave and none of those ways were painless. "…I see…_Sayonara_, Chief."

Sheena stiffened. She'd taught him that word years and years ago, right after they'd left Mizuho the first time they celebrated Celsius Day there. The villagers had been calling it out to them and he'd wondered what it meant. Sheena had never thought for an instant that he would actually still remember. It was a goodbye meant only for long trips or even forever.

"_Sayonara…"_

-//--///--////

"It's all because the Pope opened his big mouth and tried to banish me and stuff. The whole world got messed up!" Zelos doesn't think that the King deserves to know the real truth. Not yet.

"Chosen One, what would you have me do?"

"Send an emissary of peace to Iselia."

"Emissary? Who would you choose for such a job?"

"I would choose Sheena, Chief of Mizuho. She's already involved and Lloyd Irving trusts her. The emissary of death would become an emissary of peace…kina ironic, wouldn't ya say?"

"Ironic indeed. Very well, Chosen One." It was yet to be official, the abolishment of the Chosen status. But Zelos privately considered it a done deal and he couldn't wait for him to be free officially.

-//----////-------////-------/

In the past months, Zelos had gotten into the habit of coming late to the nobles' dinner parties. This time was no such exception, even if it was to celebrate the joining of the worlds. As he entered the dining hall, he instantly sought out Lloyd _(How much had changed! Not six months ago, it would have been Sheena's company he searched for)_

Lloyd was standing by the buffet table with a woman that Zelos didn't recognize. The woman was clearly from Mizuho because of the kimono. Lloyd smiled and called him over.

Zelos smirked at his friend. "You do clean up nice, don't you?"

Lloyd stuck out his tongue. His brown hair had been gelled back and was dressed in resplendent white with gold buttons, his swords absent from his sides. It's only now that Zelos turns to properly look at the woman does he recognize her.

He'd never before seen Sheena in a formal kimono.

The kimono was the gray of ashes, speckled below the waist with brilliant orange and gold dots that, when Zelos focused on them, turned out to be embroidered fireflies, set against a wash of pale purple mountains and silver-blue water. The charcoal black obi was stitched with gold and a familiar bell dangled from it. Her dark hair was pulled back in an elegant twist. There was no make-up of any kind on her face—not surprising since Sheena hated the stuff—but she was still the loveliest person Zelos could ever remember seeing.

"You're catching flies." She snapped, averting her eyes. She hated it when people stared at her.

Zelos smiled crookedly. That would have sounded friendly had it not been for the ice in her tone. "Sorry. I wasn't sure I recognized you, what with you looking like a proper lady and all." Zelos could have taken the comment further, but, knowing her as well as he did, he was sure that she had either daggers or her cards somewhere on her person. Maybe both.

"How long is this party supposed to go on for?" Lloyd asked, tugging uncomfortably at his collar.

"Definitely until midnight. Probably past it. We can stay the polite amount of time and leave."

"And how long is the polite amount of time?"

"An hour at least."

They sighed collectively. It was going to be a very long night.

Sheena is leaning against a wall, trying her very best to be unnoticed as she picks at her food and stays far away from the punch and the wine. She's only been drunk once—because she'd made the mistake of drinking the punch at a party much like this one—and she'd been throwing up half the night and Zelos had to hold back her hair.

"Do I need to say out loud who I think is responsible for the look on your face right now?" Raine is wearing a cream-colored dress that is tied at the neck. It's modestly cut and the only jewelry she wears is a small ring on a silver chain around her neck. She'd tamed her flyaway hair enough that it was in a bun. Somehow, it all makes her eyes seem much brighter and bigger.  
Sheena eyes the ring. "Since when do you have that?" She can't ever remember seeing it during their journey.

"…It was in my mother's diary. Do you remember Exire?" How could Sheena forget? The Floating City had had a haunting beauty to it, its buildings weathered and aged beyond belief. The people there had been skittish. The second time they'd visited, Sheena had made a pact with Maxwell. "The elder there knew my mother. She was living in Exire. Lloyd, Genis and I found her. She…she's gone mad now, but the elder had her diary. Inside it was this ring. It was apparently my father's wedding ring."

Sheena hummed thoughtfully. There had seemed to be a lot of rings on their journey. The Sorcerer's Ring, Yuan's wedding ring…it was a lot more rings then there should have been.

"Now," Raine said, fixing her with a Teacher Glare. "You almost sidestepped my question."

"It's not his fault this time. I've always hated these parties."

"The latter I can believe. But if he hasn't done something to anger or annoy you, then why have you barely spoken a word to him all night?"

"He's too busy with his hunnies." Sheena said automatically, though she knew that this was a lie. Zelos had ignored almost every female here, save for Raine, Presea and Colette. He'd even done a spectacular job of pretending that Sheena didn't exist ever since he'd found her.

"Are you still angry at him?"

"He…he made me believe something of him that wasn't true."

"It wasn't true or are you afraid to believe it's true?"

Sheena glared at Raine. "Y'know, I think I liked these conversations more when you didn't have any advice."

"Sometimes you need to hear something, whether you want to or not." Raine tells her.

"Not tonight I don't." Sheena was really in no mood to discuss this. Especially not tonight at an event like this.

----//////----/------////-------///

"You fought with your Chosen." Orochi says, stacking one of the many boxes onto a caravan.

"One, he's not 'my' anything. And there is no Chosen status anymore." Sheena can't be more grateful, after all the things she'd seen on the journey.

"A response that neatly sidesteps the question. So you are fighting with him?"

"No. I'm not anything with him. I'll tell you what I told him—I'm done."

Orochi observes her carefully. She'd been practically his sister nearly for the entirety of both their lives. He's seen her at both weak and strong points of her life. But never has he seen her heartbroken until now. "…The look in your eyes tells me a different story than the lies upon your lips."

Sheena glances up at him as she passes him another crate. "You're one of the last ones I'd expect to be talking to me about this."

"…I do not wish to see a good thing die before it has the chance to grow." He said, taking the box.

Sheena stilled. "What good thing?"

"Your relationship with the Chosen, since you want me to spell it out for you." He lets a note of irritability creep into his voice. Orochi personally thinks that they're both being very stubborn. He knew that forgiveness for the betrayal was a slow thing coming, but it was something sure to happen. "I have told you before. You light up around him. He brings out…a different something inside of you."

"Were you going to say that he brought out the best in me?"

"I thought about it." Orochi confessed. "But then I thought about it and came to the conclusion that it wasn't quite the right wording."

"That entire 'relationship' as you call it, is a dead horse and I would greatly appreciate it if we could stop beating it."

"If you wish it so." Orochi hops off the back of the caravan. "I nearly forgot, but the King requested your presence."

Sheena frowned. "As the Chief?"

Orochi lifted his shoulders and let them fall. "He did not say."

She nodded. "Alright then. I'll head over there and try to get here in time so that I can help finish up with the move."

"Wasn't Lloyd supposed to help?" Orochi distinctly remembers that being part of the move.

Sheena laughed. "Now that I think about it, he is. He can help us unpack then. I'll send him a message from Meltokio."

"Yes, Chief."

-//----/////------///----//

The ivory keys felt odd beneath his fingertips. True, he'd hardly touched them ever since he'd started on his journey—had it truly been almost a year since then? The temperatures were cooling once more, the air crisp and the leaves once again changing their colors.

"Sebastian?" Zelos called.

The butler came out from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel. There was a proper cook, but it seemed that the cook and Sebastian seemed to be getting friendlier and friendlier, though the cook was a large woman—not fat, just large and she didn't need magic to lift a fifty pound bag of flour with one hand.

"Yes, Master Zelos?"

"…You were married once…weren't you?"

Sebastian blinks. He can't ever seem to remember Zelos asking him for advice on romantic matters, which is where he's sure this conversation is going. "Yes, but this was almost ten years ago."

"And you guys…you had your fights?"

"Naturally."

"How did you get past the really bad ones?"

Sebastian remembers his wife, a lovely woman to be sure, though sassy and full of child-like mischief. They'd been young then, so young… "It would take some time, usually. We would sit and stew at each other, but it was as though we couldn't really stay away. We always seemed to make up when we were doing laundry. I would sort and she would fold, you see. She was always far better at it than I.'

"And how did…how did you know that she was…y'know, the right one? To marry and all?"

Sebastian smiles fondly. He remembers that day. She'd been from a lower noble family and her parents had naturally not approved. "I believe it was when she looked straight at her parents and said, 'Well I'm marrying him anyways." Zelos frowned, playing a few lonely notes. "Master Zelos, I believe that it is when they do something so simply extraordinary that you simply…know, I suppose."

"…Thanks, Sebastian."  
Zelos sits there until long the sun is nothing but a red line on the horizon, the sky darkening to its lovely dark blues and speckled silvers.

"Is this the response of a former Chosen and one of the saviors of the world? To tuck his tail between his legs and hide in his lair when he doesn't wish to see the world?"

That familiar voice. That wonderful voice that still held its trace of a Mizuho accent, that sounded so melodic when it read aloud. He turned towards her.

Sheena stood leaning against the doorframe of the door leading to the gardens. She is as lovely as ever, but perhaps more so now. She's in street clothes. Not the purple haori that she'd worn during the journey, no kimono, formal or otherwise. Just a pair of black cotton breeches and a light blue tank top, a jacket thrown on as an afterthought. It had only recently begun to get cold enough to wear one after all. Her hair is in the messy ponytail it had always been in and Zelos can't quite read the twist of her lips.

"Wh—what are you doing here? How'd you get in?"

She gives him a look. "I know I'm not the most graceful of ninjas, but I can break into a house." Sheena pushed herself off of the doorframe. "Apparently, someone thought that I'd be a good peace emissary. Now who could that have been?"

"The King told you?"

Sheena tilted her head at him. "No, you did. Just now. The only part I can't seem to figure out is why."

Zelos didn't quite look at her, instead choosing to stare at a spot a little over her left shoulder. "You're the best person for the job. Like I said to the King, the people in Iselia know and trust you and you're already involved with all of this."

"Is that right?" Zelos scooted automatically so that Sheena had room to sit on the piano bench. "Thanks for asking me if I wanted the job."

"It's not so long a flight, especially now." He's right. Iselia is fairly close to the Tree. Or, Zelos thought it was. Now that they had the Rheiards and he had his own pair of wings, there wasn't much of a need to walk long distances like that anymore and his perception of distance had become a little skewed. "And you get to eat Dirk's cooking."

"He is an excellent cook." Sheena agreed absentmindedly. "And you can eat it too. I don't think you're banished from the house at dinnertime."

Zelos glances at her out of the corner of his eye. "I know. Lloyd offered the last time I was over there."

"When was that?" There's no suspicion in her voice. Only curiosity.

"…A little before I was in Mizuho last."

Neither of them appreciates the reminder of that fight. But Sheena says, "You owe me a door."

Zelos looks at her incredulously. "_What?"_

"You destroyed my door. You owe me a new one." But her lips are twitching with a smile and Zelos can't help but laugh. And certainly can't stop laughing because his Sheena is back. She may not have forgiven him yet and she might still be a little mad at him, but she's willing to go back to what they had and that has to be the best news he's heard in years.

-///----///---//--//

She tosses him his Celsius Day present from where she's seated on the floor by the armchair dubbed 'Yuan's'. They'd taken to celebrating it in Altamira, since Regal couldn't be away from work for too long with all the rebuilding efforts going on. And, the best part yet, it didn't snow in Altamira. It didn't even get cold, really. It was the same temperature here, in the midst of winter that it had been in Meltokio three months ago.

He unwraps the package—she'd wrapped it with newspaper comics, how very like her—and is surprised when his eyes meet the thick, warm blankets from Flanoir. So she had brought them with her.

Zelos had thought for a long time on what to give her and had come up blank almost every time. It shouldn't have been hard. They'd gotten each other Celsius Day gifts before. Finally, he'd settled on a book. He would've asked Raine for help had he not been so full of pride.

Sheena unwrapped her present and read the cover. _Tales from Around the World_. True, it was a Sylvaranti book and might not have all of, or any, of her favorites, but Sheena beamed at him just the same.

He's staring at the ceiling that night, hands behind his bed and unable to sleep. Maybe it was because winter had always equaled cold his entire life. Even when he'd spent the Celsius Day's with Sheena in Mizuho, it had still been cold. It simply hadn't snowed.

A knock comes at his door before a familiar head pokes out. "Oh good, you're awake."

Zelos sits up, still leaning on his hands. "Can't sleep?" He guessed and the look on her face is answer enough. "So why're you here?"

Sheena holds up the book as she pads across the room. "…Figured I could read to you."

"We'll trade off." Zelos bargains. After all, Sheena deserved to be read to sometimes too.

Sheena agrees and he moves back so that there's room for her on the bed as well. She sits with her knees raised and her back leaning on the footboard, Zelos with his legs stretched out opposite her.

The stories are ridiculous and heartbreaking, childish and almost (but not quite) grown up. Sheena hadn't really noticed the rhythm of Zelos' voice before, though she knew she'd been hearing it for years (whether she liked it or not). Zelos tries to do different voices for the different characters, but after Sheena nearly collapses from laughter, he decides to stop, though he pokes her in the ribs with his toe as payback.

-/----///-------//////

"What're you making?" Zelos asked, handing her her mug of coffee. From what he could see, it was a rectangular wooden board with four slim posts around it. Sheena had a roll of paper out and was painting something on it.

"A floating lantern. It's for a traditional festival in Mizuho. Everyone makes a lantern and we send it down the river and out to sea. They say that if someone finds your lantern while the candle inside is still burning, your wish will come true."

"Wish?"

"Yeah. You're supposed to write a wish down on a piece of paper and burn it with the candle in your lantern."

"So you're decorating your lantern?" Zelos can see the calligraphic characters for the Summon Spirits, their elements surrounding the character.

"Mmhmm." Sheena hesitates for a bare moment before holding out the brush to him. "You want to decorate it a little?"

Why not, he figures. Then he realizes that he doesn't know Mizuho characters. "Little help?" He asks and Sheena chuckles. She moves to stand behind him—he's ambidextrous where she's right-handed—and corrects his hold on the brush.

"You're holding it like a knife. It's a paintbrush." Her hands are too small to fit properly over his, but they succeed enough to guide him through the strokes. Zelos works hard to focus and pretend not to notice the tingling effect her palms have on his hand.

The character for Fire is four strokes and a dot. Zelos appraises it and says, "This ain't so hard."

Sheena laughs and it makes Zelos' arm shake as well as she hasn't removed her hand. "Let's see you do it on your own then." She says as she releases him.

Zelos mimics the same movements. His character is shakier, but still recognizable. Sheena congratulates him and asks if he'd like to come to the festival. He agrees immediately.

Sheena is dressed in a yukata, its pale purple flowers spiraling up her legs. Her hair is loose and drying and she returns his smirk with a half-playful glare. Luckily, Genis and Zelos had branched off some pieces of the river a few miles away so that it would feed the Tree. It had taken the better part of three days, but it had worked. The Tree had a steady supply of water and Mizuho, being almost next door, now had a stream that didn't need to so far to do their festival.

Yuan had decided to stop by as well. He hadn't brought a lantern and wore his old cape around his shoulders for it was still rather cool this early in spring. But he no longer wore his armor. Just a loose white tunic, black breeches and well-worn books. But he only greeted them and, when he thought no one was looking, released a small flame, hardly larger than the other flames dancing above the lanterns, and sent it down the river as well.

-//----////----////---///

She asks to see his wings one summer night.

Zelos stared at her, not quite sure what it was he was hearing. Was he still not entirely back from the film they'd just been watching? "Excuse me?"

Sheena bit her lip, but repeated the question anyways.

"Why?"

Sheena stuffs her hands in her pockets and doesn't meet his eyes. Zelos can imagine a hundred reasons for it and at the same time can't think why she would want to see the proof of his betrayal. "If you don't want to show me, that's fine. Just thought I'd ask."

It's more than that, he can tell. But sometime when he wasn't looking, she'd learned a new face. A face he hadn't learned to read yet. "I-I don't mind showing you, exactly…It's just that I can't seem to figure out why you'd want to see them."

"I think it's something I just need to see. Please?"

Zelos nods and shrugs his tank top up so that it's resting on his shoulders and exposing his back. There's a very faint, orange glow and her hand brushes over the few feathers that never quite disappear entirely. Zelos releases a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding and his wings spread, the orange glow strengthening. Zelos isn't sure about the other angels, but it never felt natural for his wings to be brought out. He always had to make it a conscious decision.

Her fingers are gentle on the feathers. "They're warm."

"They _are_ basically solid mana."

Zelos isn't sure what it is she's looking for as her hands map out strange paths along the veins of the wings, stroking them from tip to base, tracing each feather. Sheena doesn't say a word as she switches to the other wing to repeat it all and the movement is the barest whisper of air over the skin of his back.

"Did you know," Sheena finally says, "That different colors mean different things?" Zelos glances over his shoulder at her, not quite sure where she was going with this. "It's like that for flowers. I wonder…I wonder if it's the same with wings."

"What're you talking about, darling?" The endearment slips from his lips without thought, but he hasn't called her that in nearly a year. Since Derris-Kharlan.

Sheena's fingers freeze for half a moment before they continue with their tracing. "…We were taught herbs and stuff back in Mizuho. The women are supposed to learn flower-arranging and different colors mean different things. Like pink…" Immediately, Colette jumps to his mind, her wings as bright as the sun. "It's supposed to represent gentility, femininity, elegance. When the flowers are pale, they mean grace though I suppose Colette kind of fails in that area, and gentleness, admiration and happiness."

Zelos thinks of what he knows of Colette, of all of the little details that he'd learned about her. She liked cucumbers and burnt toast, preferring iced coffee. The look in her eyes when she thought no one was looking. How fiercely she'd fought against Mithos… "…And orange? What does that mean?" Zelos asked quietly.

Her hands haven't stopped in their constant, soothing motions. "Orange is for enthusiasm. For desire and passion. For excitement. But y'know, your wings aren't only orange. There's some red and a little yellow in here too."

"Is that so?"

Sheena hums in affirmative. "Yellow means friendship and joy and caring."

"Such a happy color." He commented, trying to keep his heartbeat calm.

Sheena chuckled. "Yup. And do I really need to tell you what red means?" Instantly, his shoulders tense, his entire body rigid because red is the color of blood on white snow and traitors and— "Maybe I do need to tell you." Sheena can read his posture and knows his thoughts almost as though he'd spoken them aloud. "It's a little like orange. Enduring passion and the creative spirit of love as well as respect. And it represents love that can overcome and is stronger than thorns."

Zelos hears her words and his mind processes them, but it's difficult for him to understand. All he can see is bright red, brighter even than his hair and the roses that the woman down near the slums would sell. It was that red on the pure whiteness of snow and the feeling of suffocating and seeing empty empty eyes.

Sheena had known that the subject of his wings would lead to Zelos' mother. Unthinking, she glanced toward the portrait in the corner. Mylene Wilder had been a beautiful woman, to be sure. Strawberry blonde hair falling all down her back in a crimson dress. Zelos had her eyes.

Sheena moved from Zelos wings and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's in the past. You can't change it."

_It's in the past. If I worry about the past, I'll be worse than a cripple._

But Zelos had always been better at hiding his fears than she was.

"Much as I'd like to believe you, darling…" He doesn't finish his sentence because he doesn't know exactly how to put his feelings into words. But Sheena nods. "I'll get some cocoa."

Because the first—and only time before now—that the subject of Mylene Wilder's death had come up, they'd been drinking hot cocoa because of the snow.

Zelos follows her into the kitchen, absentmindedly folding his wings and shrugging his shirt back down. Sheena moves around his kitchen as though it were hers, and in truth it practically was. She's melting the cooking chocolate in the pot when his arms circle around her waist, pulling her close and his nose is buried in her shoulder.

Instinctively, she stiffens, but his voice is a warm breath by her ear. "Just…let me hold you for a moment. Please."

Sheena is glad she doesn't have to force herself to relax and he kisses her cheek gratefully when she does. His hold loosens slowly as the smell of melting chocolate fills the kitchen.

-/-///---/////----////

They get word that Luin has officially finished its rebuilding process in early fall. Sheena sends word that she'll meet everyone there, that she had some business to finish up first. When she dismounts the Rheaird not far from the town, she can already see the difference.

The bridges have been fixed, sturdy and with rails on the side. There are cobblestones where once there was dirt paths, the buildings had been freshly painted, their inhabitants smiling and waving when they recognized her. She sees Genis standing near the bridge that led to the mayor's house, talking with Zelos.

When Zelos sees her, he grins and Sheena doesn't like the look of the grin. Genis turns and smiles at her almost apologetically, shrugging his still small shoulders. "What's that look for?" She asks warily.

Zelos' grin only widens and he points back towards the item shop. Following his finger's path, she sees what it was. An enormous statue of her. "…Am I having a nightmare?"

Zelos slings an arm around her shoulders. "Nope! If it was a nightmare, there'd be quiche and evil bunnies."

"Very true. Whose idea was it to put the statue up?"

"Statue_s_." Genis corrects. "There's one of Raine and Lloyd too."

Zelos nods, a pout on his lips. "Can you believe they didn't think to make a statue of me?"

"Your ego doesn't need the boost. Where are the others now that you mention them? I thought I'd be the last one here."

"Raine, Regal and Lloyd are all talking to the mayor and Pietro. They wanted to thank them for all the donations that let them rebuild Luin. Colette has been talking with the item shop owner about that dog—Lucky I think his name was?—and Presea's been with the weapon smith and advising him about the folding of the steel or whatnot."

"How's the Academy?" Sheena asks. She knows that it was in Palmacosta and Palmacosta had been half decimated when the Giant Tree went berserk, but she could only assume that the Academy hadn't been wiped out.

"Not too bad. It still feels weird to be going to school one month and the next going with Raine to help her excavate some ruin that got uncovered when the worlds were joined."

Sheena laughed. That sounded like Raine. "And you can keep up with not going to school for a month?"

"Sometimes it gets a little hard, but for the most part I'm handling it."

"You are an incredible kid, Genis Sage.'

"Oh yeah, the kids have been asking after you."

Sheena stared at him. "What kids?"

"The ones from this town. They saw us and naturally wanted to know when you were getting here because they want to play hide and seek with you again."

Sheena smiled. "I'll go find them now."

She's jogging towards the fountain, the best place in the village to find the kids. Zelos can hear shrieks filling the air. A small pack of them dashed towards Sheena and threw themselves at her. Sheena only laughed and knelt to return their hugs.

"You'd think that we'd brought them up in a barn, wouldn't you?" A woman with a basket of sweet potatoes says to Zelos, who couldn't help watching. "Climbin' on her like she was a hobbyhorse. But then, they've always loved Sheena so much."

"She's easy to love." Zelos replied without thinking.

"Maybe for you." Lloyd said as he walked to join Zelos and Genis, one hand in his pocket, the other resting on the hilt of one of his swords. "I can think of a few monsters and offenders of the King's law that don't find her loveable at all."  
Everyone shares a dinner of yams, smoked meats and spiced tea. They share stories as they sit against the fountain wall as they watch the sunset. It occurs to Sheena that this is the very place where she'd joined Lloyd and the others. Everything had been so different then. The town, the group and Sheena herself. Everything had been destroyed the last time she'd really walked through this town, and they'd all still been not really comfortable travelling with each other and she'd still been a cowardly failed summoner.

It's as everyone is getting up, stretching and yawning, to get to the inn before they all headed back to their respective towns that Sheena notices that Zelos is still staring around Luin.

"Something wrong?" She asks. In the last glimpses of the day's sun, she thinks that she can almost see his wings, precisely the same color as the sunset.

"No. I've actually been really okay today." He's stood up by now, but he's still leaning on the fountain. "You told me about how this town was destroyed, but now that I'm looking at it, it's almost like it never was destroyed."

"You seem rather…pensive…today."

"It's just that now that I'm looking at this place, I can see how you loved Sylvarant so much. Enough that you wanted to stay here when we thought that the worlds were getting split apart rather than joining."

"I never said that." Sheena said quietly, mimicking his position.

"You didn't have to. I could tell that you never really liked Meltokio and considering how Mizuho was treating you at the time…"

Sheena leans forward enough that she can see his expression. "Are you tipsy?" It was difficult for him to get actually drunk. His being an angel gave him a high tolerance for alcohol.

He shook his head. "I'm fine. I've just been thinking lately."

"That's pretty obvious."

Turning his mind from the thoughts of what might have been if things had gone differently during their journey, he says, "So, those kids seem to really love you."

Sheena smiled fondly. "I love those kids back .They're amazing really. Even after what they've been through, they can still smile like that."

"Y'know…they're not the only amazing ones." Zelos' voice was oddly hoarse.

Sheena didn't look at him, instead choosing to look down at her toes. "I'm not that amazing."

"A lot of the time, you are." He swung her around to face him, his lithe hands on her waist. "And other times, you're just my darling and…the only woman I could ever want." One hand reached up to stroke her hair, kissing her cheek. It was something he'd done frequently since that night that she'd asked him to show her his wings. Then he kissed her mouth. It was a restrained kiss, making no demands and made her wish he'd made a few.

Sheena pulled away just enough so she could properly look into his eyes. As familiar as the sky above them. They still didn't fit together quite right since he was still so bony and she was all soft curves. But it felt right and she thought that that mattered more. "I'd hoped you'd say that." She kissed him back and it was a little clumsy, but he was very warm and tasted of curry and coffee.

"Seems like I finally tame myself a banshee." He murmured against her lips, eyes dancing.

Sheena couldn't help but laugh. "I wouldn't call it _tamed._ A banshee shouldn't be _tame_."

Zelos grinned at her. "And not when she's the Chief of Mizuho. But I think I can live with that." His hand grasped hers. "C'mon, banshee. I think Lloyd and the others will want to know about this."

--//---//

_We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love. ~Author Unknown___


End file.
